PERCY
The last thing Percy remembered was pain. Pain so intense that he had immediately blacked out. Pain had become a friend of his for the last few months that he had spent in Tartarus, the pit of evil, Greek version of hell. And it lived up to its reputation making his existence more and more miserable with the more time he spent there. He tried to remember where he last was, just to be able to determine roughly which part of the manifestation of the Primordial he would find himself.
He took a deep breath to calm himself, but recoiled when he found no Sulphur in the air. It was then that he noticed the roaring of wind, cracking open his eyes Percy gasped at the sight that welcomed him. It was harsh sunlight, which forced the son of Poseidon to promptly shut his eyes, not being used to the glaring sunlight after his time in the pit. After adjusting to the sunlight he glanced down to see where he could try to land, it would be a shame if he managed to escape Tartarus only to die falling unceremoniously on the ground. Satisfied at seeing that he would be falling in the middle of the sea. Percy smiled a bit thinking that finally he would get to meet his friends, his mother, his Annabeth.
It had been so long, that Percy had almost forgotten about them, it was so hard fighting every second for survival in the pit that everything else took a backseat. He still remembered Annabeth's furious and sad face when he pushed her into the Doors of Death, he knew that there was no chance of both of them leaving the pit alive. Tartarus and his army were gaining on them and even Damasen with the assistance of Maeonian Drakon could only hold them back for so much.
Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Iapetus readying his broomstick, his face seemed impassive but his eyes were a different story. They seemed to be glowing silver, the Titan's aura flaring. The nearest monsters who were smart fled the small clearing while those who thought they had a chance against the enraged Titan roared and charged him. With one angry snarl Iapetus' broomstick converted into a spear while small Bob changed into his sabre toothed lion form. Iapetus moved his spear in perfect coordination with the attacks slicing and jabbing any monsters close enough to him. He let loose a beam of energy that decimated the monster army that had dared to attack him.
But that moment of victory was short lived as Percy noticed another army, this time larger than the first one approaching them. A sudden ding brought Percy's attention to the Doors of Death, swiftly he and Annabeth cut through the chains holding the gates in position, thus ensuring this to be the effectively last trip from the pit to the mortal realm lest Death be caught again. Only then did Percy realized how hopeless the situation was, he had already been warned by all Bob, Damasen, Nyx that there was truly no way that they would escape Tartarus alive, glancing around him Percy saw the battlefield and his heart clenched at seeing his only friends in the pit fighting to their deaths just to ensure his and Annabeth's departure from the pit. Damasen had many deep cuts throughout his body, his fight with the Primordial having resulted in those, Iapetus looked no better with deep gashes all along his chest and hands.
Percy turned back to Annabeth to see the same expression on her as he was currently feeling, but at the moment he knew what he had to do, he pushed Annabeth into the elevator before she could react. At first Annabeth was confused but realized within a second what Percy was doing, her eyes narrowed and she glared at him trying to get out of the elevator but Percy wasn't having any of it, he pushed her back harder, as the doors started closing. Percy muttered "I love you, Annabeth", just loud enough for her to hear. Giving her a sad smile Percy took in all her features for probably the last time. The stormy grey calculating eyes that had once been very cold to him now looked at him with love and fury, her honey blonde hair that once very much resembled a princess was now scattered around and uneven. Her face was littered with scars that she had received in the pit, but to Percy she looked as beautiful as the day they had shared their first underwater kiss. Percy whispered "I'm sorry" as the doors closed, he held the button of the Doors of Death knowing that he would never let go of the button until the 12 minutes of traversing were up.
He pulled out Anaklusmos in his right hand ready to kill any monster that dare to attack him, his left firmly latched onto the button. After Percy heard the ding of the elevator Percy realized that the 12 min were up and Annabeth had safely reached the House of Hades in Epirus, he could now only hope that Nico had kept his promise and the remaining of the seven had reached the place and rescued Annabeth. Removing his hand from the now fading door, Percy realized that he was oddly satisfied with what he had done, atleast there will be no more minions to aid Gaia, and any other giants that had been killed by the seven would not be retaining to the mortal realm. Looking around Percy was surprised at the lack of action on the battlefield, everybody was looking at him with barely controlled anger, after all he had taken their only chance of escaping the wretched pit.
As sudden as the silence was, a huge snort came from somewhere around , Percy whipped his head so fast in the direction that he worried for a second if he had broken his neck. There stood Tartarus in all his glory, wearing his red breastplate with a few monsters trying to escape from their eternal punishment of being stuck in his armor. Offhandedly Percy wondered whether the Primordial of The Pit wore the same fabric as his underwear. But the thought was so disturbing he abandoned his train of thoughts. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBut then Percy noticed the body of Damasen on the floor with a spear protruding through the head, his body seemed to be shimmering in and out of existence. Following his line of sight Tartarus gave another cold booming laugh which made Percy's blood boil with rage. "Aww, did I hurt the little demigod's friend" Tartarus said. Looking at Iapetus, Percy made his decision. Both of them charged at the Primordial of the Pit. The monsters also roared raring to kill the demigod ant the Titan. But Tartarus snapped his fingers instantly vaporizing them wanting to fight them himself. After all he wanted to know just how good the hero of Olympus was. Why Gaia was so worried about this particular demigod. Tartarus brandished his broadsword deflecting the first strike of the hero of Olympus to his right, while placing it in direction of the approaching spear of the Piercer.
Percy had faced many formidable enemies in his short miserable life, but never before he had been so severely outclassed by someone. Tartarus had just batted away Percy's strike like it was nothing. Percy cleared his head thinking nothing else but to kill the primordial present before him, even if it was near impossible. He circled around the primordial after he latter had sent Iapetus flying halfway through the field with the hilt of his sword. Percy knew that if he was able to get close enough to the Primordial he would have the chance to injure him as the Primordial had very little to protect himself in a very close range attack, his broadsword gave him the advantage of keeping Percy at a distance as Riptide was merely 3 foot long compared to the 5 foot length of the Primordial's weapon. Percy feinted a blow to the right while rolling to the left, extending his arm Percy managed to get a deep gash on Tartarus's knee. The Primordial howled in pain.
Percy was about to congratulate himself when he felt a boot connect with his lower back just a couple of centimeters above his Achilles heel, and he was sent flying through the battlefield back to the place where Annabeth and he had found the Titan after jumping over the River Acheron from Nyx's Mansion of Night. Pain shot up in his body as he tried to get up, he was on his knees with Anaklusmos at his side as he saw Tartarus strolling towards him leisurely. Tartarus looked at him with a cold smile gracing his horrific face." I underestimated you, young demigod". He almost looked pleased that Percy had managed to give him a cut, despite the fact that Percy had only lasted a couple of minutes against him. Percy tried lifting it again but Tartarus just struck it out of his hand falling down into the river. No, Percy saw that his sword had not fallen into the river but it has been sucked into the white vortex that the river dropped into. Turning towards Tartarus Percy knew that there was no way that he was gonna fight the Primordial, much less defeat him. But looking at him Percy felt another chill in his body. He was directly looking at the vortex with a cold calculating look in his eyes, turning to Percy he smirked. Kicking Percy in the face he threw the demigod into the vortex brimming with energy. Percy with a start realized that this was the Void, the beginning of all lifeforms came from here. But the amount of energy that he was surrounded by, Percy felt like he was being burnt from inside out. Finally Percy couldn't bear it anymore, he blacked out.
Coming out of his musings Percy raised his hands when he saw that he was only about 80 feet from the sea. The water responded to his call rising and easing his fall as he reached into the water he felt a large amount of his energy being restored. After Tartarus had drained him of all his energy, he needed some time to recuperate. He fell on the seafloor deciding to rest for the time-being.