It was the crack of dawn, just thirty minutes before the early trainers were going to pick up their weapons and start. The air smelled of moss and grass dew. It was slightly humid, but the singing of the birds made everything feel...like a perfect May spring day, the wind still and air fresh as can be.

Baekhyun wore his usual quest outfit, black cargo pants with a tight fitting black t-shirt. It was the most versatile clothing. He didn’t care much about fashion, just comfort, like his other sisters. He needed to be able to move around quickly when he was fighting. When it got cold he brought a leather jacket just in case.

The rest of the members wore pretty much the same thing, save for Mina who resorted  to wearing high waisted jeans with a white t-shirt and grey zipped hoodie.

Even if they were all going on a quest, people would just mistake them for a couple of teenagers going on a road trip.

It was a shame they were leaving it all behind. To go into the crust of the earth, where they would presumably spend weeks until they found the hidden resistance lair.

“I’m a little claustrophobic,” Mina admitted, “How long do you think we’ll be in this tunnel?” She asked.

Baekhyun and Kyungsoo glanced at each other, almost about to burst out into a fit of laughter. They could only smile and look down to avoid that.

“Mina, no one is forcing you to come,” Kyungsoo said.

“I know-I know...but I just can’t sit still here while my brother is out there in danger. Besides, I’m still getting dreams and who knows, you may need them for information.”

Baekhyun smiled at her resilience. A lot of them were sacrificing everything they had to go and find one of their dearest friends.

Adrian having sacrificed the most. He was on probation after having given information to their enemy last year, but he’d owned up to everything and this was his last week. Yet, somehow he had the courage to come here on this quest like his life depended on it.

Kyungsoo was in no position to be digging a tunnel with his powers for weeks, he probably got in trouble with Alec as well, but he didn’t care.

It just proved how much Chanyeol meant to all of them.

They put their bags down, each one packed with their own ambrosia, and extra dagger, some first aid supplies and other various necessities. 

Kyungsoo took his palms and laid them flat on the ground. The grass beneath them sunk and quickly, a hole in the ground began to form. The soil rumbled until Kyungsoo removed his hands from the ground.

“Alright, I’m not going in first, called it,” Kyungsoo shrugged.

“I just told you I’m claustrophobic, not me,” Mina crossed her arms over her chest.

Adrian laughed, covering his mouth before saying “Not me,” 

Baekhyun groaned at his friend's childish behaviour, before flinging his bag over his shoulder and jumping into the hole like it was nothing.

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Meanwhile back at camp

Junmnyeon paced around his cabin, looking back at his watch to observe the time, wondering how long it had been since his friends had run away from camp to save Chanyeol. After about thirty minute he was certain that they’d all escaped. Now he waited.

All he could really do was wait after all. Wait to be found. Wait for Alec to come to his cabin and demand where the four of them had gone. To that Junmnyeon would have to lie in his face and say he had no clue. Perhaps plant the idea that they may have run away, and did not want to tell him because he and Alec had been working together. 

Waiting. 

That was the worst part of it all.

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“My shoes are knee deep in mud. No one told me the underground was going to be so wet and mucky...and moist…” Kyungsoo rolled his eyes.

The rest of them could tell he was irritated. It had only been about two hours of them training along the integrated tunnel that Kyungsoo was making for them in real time. The demigod had beads of sweat forming on his head, and his hands were visibly red and shaking.

Baekhyun tapped his shoulder, telling him to take a breath. They all sat in a little nook of their hole. Baekhyun fetched out a jug of water and passed it around so everyone could drink up.

The tiredness made Baekhyun feel more defeated than he usually does. He felt like they were getting nowhere, especially since Kyungsoo was the one person who could dig through the dirt. The rest of them could only watch back in case any monsters came in.

“According to this gps,” Adrian held it up so the reception was better, “We’re about to reach our quarter stop in texas. We could stop there as our rest stop. Maybe get some supplies and food. Then we’ll take a plane into the east. Dig from there.”

“Alright, then let's keep digging.” Baekhyun moved along.

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They were drenched in sweat now. Even though Kyungsoo had been digging the whole time, the rest of them attempted to hold on with their weapons. Anytime they came near a weed and it’s roots that went so far and deep, Baekhyun could take out his dagger and slash it off to make it easier to dig through. Adrian and Mina stayed close, watching behind such that if any monster were to come from behind, they would be ready.

After several grueling hours, they all collapsed on the muddy ground. The air had grown humid and Adrian’s GPS was beeping, signalling that they’d made it to Texas. 

“Remind me to never go underground again,” Kyungsoo looked the most tired, his face red because the blood was rushing to his face.

“On the bright side, we didn’t have to fight any monsters,” Adrian reasoned.

“I agree, I’d much rather spend time under a ditch than fight a minotaur or something,” Mina said.

Baekhyun could only ignore their small bickering. He was more focused on what lay ahead. Sure they’d made it quite far and it had only been one day, but this was not enough. If they wanted to get to Chanyeol soon enough they’d have to tread quickly, not talk about such useless minor things.

Everyone safely pushed themselves out of the hole that Kyungsoo made, exposing their faces to real sunlight and air.

“Wow, I really took sunlight for granted,” Adrian breathed the fresh air.

All of them were silent, clearly in agreement. 

When they finally began to comprehend their surroundings, they were surprised to find themselves, not where they assumed.

At first, they thought they’d landed right in the middle of nowhere, probably a small Texas town, a farm and cows. To their surprise they were...in the middle of somewhere.

There were many noises. Large skyscrapers all around them. The honking of horns and chattering of voices. Thankfully, they had come out into such a busy urban area, no one even recognized their existence. 

Baekhyun took in their surroundings, looking up at the clear blue sky. He got lost in thoughts. Everytime he looked at the sky he immediately thought of Chanyeol. He was the son of Zues afterall. But then, as soon as he’d think about Chanyeol’s father Baekhyun would fume with anger. 

He then turned back to his friends, to which he froze when he realized Mina looked like she’d seen a ghost. 

Her shaking  finger was pointed at something behind Baekhyun. 

When Baekhyun turned back, he immediately took out his weapon.

No, it wasn’t some-thing. There were many things.

“What the-” Kyungsoo took out his sword.

Behind them was not one, not two but about 20 monsters, all lined up single file, sparta war style, holding clubs and other various weapons. They were frozen too, perhaps waiting to see if the demigods were going to attack first.

“Where did all of these monsters come from?” Mina said, her voice trembling.

Adrian cursed under his breath, “They must have been following us from up top.”

“,” Baekhyun pocketed his dagger and took out his retractable bow and arrow instead. 

“I’ll stand behind, hit as many as I can. Kyunsgoo, Adrian get ready to attack head on,”

Mina looked back at Baekhyun wondering why her friend hadn’t told her anything. Not that she was complaining. Sure, she’d trained this entire summer so her abilities could get better, but she was nowhere near as skilled to fight several monsters at once.

“Stay behind Adrian, get out your sword,” Baekhyun noticed her worried face.

Mina did not even complain. She knew very well she wouldn’t even be able to take one monster down let alone ten. She stood behind Adrian with her own weapon feeling like a burden.

Baekhyun fling the first arrow. It went right through the heart of a cyclops who had been ready to smash this club into Kyungsoo head. 

Once the monsters had seen the first arrow pulverize their comrade, they charged. 

There were three gorgons that went after Adrian, who held up his obsidian black sword, waving it around to block them.

Kyungsoo was swamped with the responsibility of fighting the other cyclopes that were running his way.

Baekhyun kept at the back, flinging arrows at various limbs to slow down the monsters the best he could. 

Kyungsoo gave up using his sword and slamming his palm into the ground, making the ground shake. 

The monsters faltered. They looked confused, but sooner rather than later they looked at the ground which began swallowing them up.

“Ahhhh!” Some of them dropped into the depths of the hole, their voices echoing.

Not all the monsters had gone into the hole though. A gorgon which was very much alive, growled angrily before charging at a defenseless Mina. 

Baekhyun was quick on his feet. He ran over to Mina, trusting that Adrian and Kyungsoo could take the rest of the monsters.

Mina closed her eyes shut, waiting for the impact that Gorgon was going to hit her with.

Baekhyun notched his arrow. The sunlight catching onto the tip of the sharp end. It soared like a bird soaring straight into a brick wall. That brick wall being the angry gorgon, who staggered backwards when the arrow sunk into its thigh.

“Cursed demigod!” The gorgon howled in pain.

Mina opened her eyes hesitantly, to see the gorgon in pain. She bit her lip in nervousness, before looking back at Baekhyun in thanks. Since the opportunity was right in front of her and the gorgon had not yet been killed, she took out her own sword and shakingly sunk the blade into its stomach.

The gorgon blew up into a million pieces, its black venom blood landing just a foot away from her.

This was the first time she’d actually killed a monster.

“Nice,” Baekhyun patted her on the back, “Get used to the feeling there’s more where that came from.”

Then, it was only the giant cyclops that Kyungsoo was currently fighting. Since Adrian and Baekhyun had finished up fighting their own respective monsters, they went over to help Kyungsoo. 

He was doing okay for now, using his powers to smack the ground, attempting to open up holes. Just before Baekhyun was able to run over and help his friends, he heard a shrieking cry.

“Ah!” Mina yelled.

Adrian and Baekhyun turned with their weapons raised, confused at the scene before them. Mina was...entangled. In vines, stems, flowers. It was like she was being tied up by a bunch of plants. 

A nymph.

Baekhyun immediately saw the woman, skin glowing green, eyes red engulfing Mina in vines. It wasn’t hurting her though, it was more like she was restraining her.

While they both attempted to figure out a solution to get her out, they too felt their legs give out as vines encircled around their ankles. Adrian attempted to use his sword to cut the vines off, but they kept regenerating. They too were up in the air with Mina, struggling against the stems of a plan that were originating off this very nymph.

“Now watch, demigods...as your comrade dies at the hand of a cyclops,” She whispered.

Kyungsoo was losing. Not only was he running out of energy because he’d used it all trying to dig a tunnel all the way here, but his sword had just been knocked out of his hand. All was left were his uncoordinated, drained fists and jacked up cyclopes ready to pulverize him.

“Stop!” Baekhyun attempted to use charmspeak on the cyclopes.

The cyclopes hesitated only for a second, before shaking his head to get the charmspeak effect out of him. Baekhyun realized he was too far to initiate the charmspeak, it would only last a few seconds. 

But the cyclops was getting too close, and it looked like Adrian and Mina were also too tied up to help.

Just then, Baekhyun saw something zoom past them. And an arrow? Now an entire human body almost flashed past their eyes, causing a sort of inertia Baekhyun had never felt before. It was almost like a black shadow that was cast over them, casuing their heads to move towards it’s direction.

Suddenly, they saw Kyungsoo being pulled up and away from danger. 

It all happened so fast, Baekhyun was unable to process it.

A teleporter. 

Baekhyun had never met such a mythological creature before. 

When his mirage stayed still, he was holding an unconscious Kyungsoo on his back. His eyes were covered with a cap, and mouth pulled into a smirk.

Mina, Baekhyun and Adrian looked at each other in confusion.

Who was it? A god? Another monster? But why had he saved Kyungsoo? Going as far as killing off the cyclopes himself by pushing into the gaping sinkhole the son of Ares had made.

Baekhyun squinted his eyes to get a better look, but suddenly the man took the tip of his cap and removed it elegantly.

His eyes were almond shaped. Sharp. Baekhyun couldn’t put his finger on it, but he’d seen those eyes before somewhere. 

The man was wearing a black tattered t-shirt where the holes showed off his abs. His pants were dusted up with various burns and dirty, it had lost its probably original colour- a light blue.

The unknown man frowned.

“Tell me, lost demigods, which side are you on?” he asked.

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Authors note: Well? What do you think. Yes!  new character. I knew I had to incorporate Kai somewhere in this story, so voila! There ya go. He's gonna be one of the major characters in this plot line. What do you guys think his intentions are? Do you think he's a defector? We'll find out in the next chapter!