The House of Hades
Chapter I
AN: This is my first fanfiction, so please be patient. I promise that this will get better as my writing skills improve.
Disclaimer:I do not own PJO or HoO
I-Percy
As Percy fell down through the dark, deadly abyss, he thought that he had had enough for one day. He had read in myths that an anvil falling from earth to Tartarus would take 9 days to reach the bottom, and as he was falling at about the same speed he realized that it would not help his time limit. Just great,he thought. Together, the seven had only one month before Gaea fully awakened. On the plus side, one side of the doors of death was in Tartarus. On the downside, he was in the home territory of every monster that had been killed. He landed sooner than he expected, and without pain, surprisingly.
His friend Nico had been captured here once, and he had nearly been driven insane. Captured by Gaea's forces, he was overwhelmed. He was kept there for days until he had been used as bait for the seven. How he had escaped, Percy had no idea.
He looked around, and he couldn't see anything through the dark red mist. Tortured screams filled the air. He began to lose consciousness as they both choked on the mist and passed out on the grounds of hell.
When Percy woke up, he did not expect a tropical resort. Palm trees lined a beach with crystal clear waters and fine white sand. The sun shined brightly against a perfect blue sky. Percy felt it didn't go too well with the idea that this was the dwelling place of the primordial spirit of darkness and evil, beginning to suspect he had died and went to Elysium. He got up and found himself alone. Annabeth was nowhere to be found.
"Hello!"
Percy nearly jumped out of his skin. Being thrown into a dark abyss can really make you high-strung. He spun around, finding himself face to face with a man who resembled his father, Poseidon. He appeared to be in his mid-20s, with a tan that should have been impossible to get. He was wearing a swimsuit and a Hawaiian shirt, and resembled a surfer he saw one time in California.
"I am Jack, and I will be your tour guide today! I will show you around and we hope you enjoy your stay!"
Percy didn't remember much of the tour, his mind filled with worry. He had lost his girlfriend and had no idea where he was. As he walked along the beach, he felt a growing uneasiness. Usually, paradise turned out to be a trap.
"Come with me, I have a very special thing to show you!"
Percy followed uneasily, worried that this was a trap. But regardless, he followed Jack to a small beach mostly surrounded by land. The beach was brightly lit by the sun overhead, and a light breeze blew through. The waves were getting smaller, and soon the water was perfectly calm.
"It seems that something is bothering you. What is it?"
Reluctantly, Percy found himself describing what had happened to him. Jack merely nodded, listening intently. The quiet was eerie, and Percy grew increasingly nervous. He finally asked Jack where he was.
Jack responded, "You are in Tartarus."
Startled, Percy ran, but found he could not move. Jack, with an evil smile on his face, turned to leave. Percy tried to get up, but had lost most of his strength after his fight with Otus and Ephialtes.
"I could tell you that your world will be destroyed, but you would not care. You wouldn't believe me, foolishly believing you picked the winning side. I fought demigods just like you, who all had nothing to show for themselves but strength and an irritating sense of self-righteousness," he said
"Blah blah blah"
"Mock me, I really don't care. The gods were much more powerful than, but they have grown weaker since the fall of Greece and Rome. Now, almost no one believes in them, and their power decreases as western civilization continues to grow worse. Soon, we will win, the gods will fall and so on. But instead of telling you, I will show you. Pleasant dreams."
He turned to leave, but turned back to tell Percy one last thing.
"If you try to escape, you will not survive for too long. I am not worried, however, as you are too weak to move. I need you as a sacrifice to give Gaea the power to raise me from this pit."
He turned around and left. And with that, the beach began to change. The sand turned black and the water disappeared, replaced with burning lava. The air heated up to the point where Percy began to feel like he was back in mount St. Helens. Then, without warning, he collapsed.
-
To make his day even worse, he found he was dreaming again. He looked around and saw that he was in a cave. He could barely see anything, but when his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw a figure chained to the wall. When he looked closer, he realized it was Annabeth chained to the wall of the cave.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Sure. I'm fine. I just faced a hybrid spider that wanted to kill me for retrieving a statue of her greatest enemy, then fell into a prison I can't escape. I was being captured by the worst giant of all, second in power only to the primordial gods."
He explained what had happened, from the discussion with "Jack" and the change from paradise to hell. She hung there, appearing increasingly worried.
"This is notgood." she said. "He was the most powerful king of the giants, formed by Gaea to fight all the gods at once. He had unbelievable powers over storm and illusion, which would explain why you saw Tartarus as a tropical resort. It would also explain why you saw him as a tour guide. His name is Eurymedon. Unlike Polybotes, he is extremely powerful. Polybotes was very weak compared to what he would have become if you had not stopped him."
"How am I talking to you?," Percy asked.
"Sometimes, when in great need, a demigod can contact someone while dreaming. But you can not rescue me alone."
"What? I will be able to find you. I always have!"
"Percy, calm down and don't make any other stupid decisions. Besides, you will be hopelessly overwhelmed if you try to free me."
"Why? I usually come out on top in fights."
"Yeah, when I'm with you. But it doesn't matter, because if you come near me, you will die a painful death after seeing horrible visions. My jailer is the giant Eurymedon."
Then suddenly, the dream ended and the cave faded to black. Percy woke up to find he still could not move. But it was not because of his weakened state from falling into Tartarus. He looked down and saw Stygian iron chain links on his legs. He looked down at the rocky ground about a mile below. The ground was glowing a dull red, and a dust storm cleared to show the face of a sleeping woman. Her eyelids were a little less than half-open.
With horrible certainty, he knew he was seeing the face of Gaea. She was ready to awaken in less than a month. He struggled, but realized his bonds were unbreakable. You could have chosen a new life in the sea,Gaea said. But now, you will soon face me and you will see in me an enemy you cannot defeat.
He thought about her words. He had seen visions of camp destroyed, but never the entire world. And with those horrifying thoughts, he passed out. Perseus Jackson, the saviour of Olympus, hung there helplessly, stripped of his powers, and chained next to the greatest enemy of the Olympians in the very heart of the earth.
AN: I hope you enjoyed. Future chapters will be longer. My goal is to wrap up HoO with this, so it might be pretty long. Will continue after the real House of Hades comes out. PM me if you have any ideas.