A/N Haven't seen one of these, so I thought I would write one. :)
PROLOGUE
Low growls filled the air and the earth cracked and ruptured. A small boy backed farther and farther down the small alleyway, his eyes and posture radiating total panic.
"What the h*ll is that?!"
Farther along the dirt-ridden path, a creature as black as night stood, its eyes gleaming in the darkness. Its figure was so large that it blocked out the morning sun entirely.
Percy backed farther and farther into the alleyway, but the creature more than matched his pace, bounding forward and closing the distance between them at an alarming rate.
A sharp rock stuck out at an unfortunate angle. Percy caught it with the back of his shoe- an unfortunate miscalculation. A fatal miscalculation.
With a strangled scream, he fell to the ground. Mud and dirt and sheer fatigue held him to the floor. He felt quite unable to move as the massive hound bore down upon him. For a moment, nothing happened.
Then its massive jaw extended until he could feel its panting breath on his cheek.
Something huge emerged from the mouth, and he felt his heart stop.
He was going to die here, in a dark alleyway, to this monster!
Wetness. A suffocating sea of wetness. A massive tongue traced him all about his body- a slobbering lick.
Percy glanced up, surprised. Then the tongue came again. Another lick. Another drench of slobber.
He looked up into the eyes of the hound, and saw no animosity there- only playfulness.
"Hello, Percy. I see you've discovered my pet."
Percy whirled around, immediately on guard.
Standing before him was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Long ebony hair, a pale face, and beautiful features, all cloaked in the most bleak of blacks. In a way, she seemed to be the older, female reflection of his features.
"I am your mother."
Silence.
"What?"
"My name is Nyx." she continued.
Percy frowned. "Nyx, as in the Primordial Goddess of Night?"
The Goddess raised an eyebrow. "You know of me?"
Percy smiled. "Of course! I read about you all the time!"
He reached down and pulled from his tattered clothes a set of tattered comic strips, each depicting a gruesome scene of death at the hands of a cloaked woman.
Nyx wrinkled her nose. "You would do well to stay away from those… mortal brain infestations," she said. "They bring nothing but trouble."
Percy frowned as he processed the former part of his sentence. "So you say you're a Goddess?"
His eyes narrowed. "Prove it!" he instructed. The tone he used was something akin to charmspeak, but vastly more powerful, playing on fear rather than lust. To any other creature, it probably would have worked- but Nyx merely smiled.
She thrust out her hand. Floating in the palm was a massive orb of darkness. It seemed to draw the very light from its surroundings. Percy glanced at it, transfixed by the swirling images twisting and filling the pale surface of the sphere.
"Wow," was all he could say.
"Do you believe me now?" Nyx asked. Percy glanced up at her with a glazed look, almost as if he wasn't believing his eyes. Which certainly was possible.
"I… sure." he said. "Is it true you can summon an entire army of skeletons with a single flick of the hand?" Percy inquired.
"That is true."
"Really? That's awesome."
"'Awesome' would not be the first word that comes to my mind," Nyx commented dryly. "But this is besides the point."
A bout of thunder suddenly crashed above. Nyx wrinkled her nose and hissed loudly at the noise, her hands clenching into fists. "Zeus," was all she said.
The Goddess turned back to Percy. "I have little time to explain," she said. "As we speak, Zeus is attempting to break down my barrier."
Before Percy could react, the Goddess leapt forth, pressing one cold finger against his forehead.
"We will meet again soon, my son," she whispered hurriedly. "Accept this parting gift"
A thousand images rushed into his head. Sound and thoughts raced into his mind all at once. Somewhere in the distance, he thought he could hear the sound of a massive explosion- and then his mind derailed into nothingness.