Sweat trickled down his bare chest. Percy swung his right arm forward with a grunt. Riptide made impact with the straw dummy, slashing another gash in a chest already riddled with them. Percy took a step back, dodged to the right, and then stabbed the sword forward, landing a hit right in the throat of the straw man. Percy spun and ducked, dodging an invisible blade. He then slashed the straw man's legs as he spun towards him. Percy then stood to full height quickly and slashed again, letting out a war cry as he hacked away at the straw man. After a few more slashes he stopped, panting and covered in sweat. He moved his long black hair from in front of his green eyes to see the straw man leaking his guts across the cobblestone floor.
Percy turned to look around the rest of the dungeon. There were about five other demigods, four of them male. They hacked away at straw men of their own. All the other demigods were filled with rage like Percy. All of them were dishonored like he was.
Percy sheathed Riptide until it was a mere ballpoint pen, and placed it in his black Nike athletic shorts pocket. He turned around and scanned the room. It was underground, about 20 feet so. It was curved, as it was a section of an entire underground circle. Along the room ran a stone wall with a few open doorways that also curved. He walked through one of these doorways into the sleeping quarters of the combatants. It wasn't anything special: piles of straw along with straw stuffed pillows made up their beds. Straw was a common theme in the underbelly of the Ring. It was everywhere.
Percy sighed and laid down on his bed. The straw was cold. The entire area didn't have electricity. The only sources of light were torches mounted on the mossy stone walls. In the low light he saw a few other demigods asleep on their pathetic beds as well. Percy closed his eyes and tried to get some rest.
As soon as he closed his eyes he heard a roar of a crowd coming from above ground. He heard cheers and jests, and heard dramachas hitting the Earth.
Another one dead.
Percy got up, groaning as he stood. His lower back was killing for some reason. He walked through the doorway into the training area to see if his team had been the ones to suffer the defeat. Sure enough, two guards came down the ramp leading to the Ring about 30 feet away dragging a lifeless corpse. It was that of a male demigod, 16 years old. Two years younger than Percy. They dragged him passed the training area and through a dark doorway. The other combatants didn't even bat an eye. There was a streak of blood from where the body had been dragged.
"Overzealous, that one. That'll be you too maggot if you don't put your work in" a male voice said from behind Percy. Percy spun around to see the Onyx team captain, Nazir. He was an older man, in his late forties from what Percy could tell. He had a thin scraggly white beard and many scars on his face. His chocolate brown eyes looked tired, and he had crows feet surrounding them. Nazir wore simple brown leather armour, with what appeared to be a crude image of a lion stitched into the chestpiece. He had an onyx belt with a silver steel shortsword attached to it. He was an intimidating man. He stood six feet two inches tall, and had a great body for his age. He had seen many kids die.
"I've seen worse things than what's in that ring" Percy responded back. It was true, or so he thought. He had saved the world from Kronos and the Titans, then did it again, this time against Gaea. He had fought more monsters than he could count.
Nazir stared right into Percy's soul. "If you fought right now, your body would be the next one to get dragged down here".
"Bullshit" Percy fired back.
Nazir walked forward until he was right in Percy's face. "You haven't put in the work maggot. Until you do, you're dead to me." Percy heard a bell ring. Nazir look up past Percy's shoulder. "Dinner's being served". With that he walked past Percy, bumping into his shoulder in the process.
Percy sighed once more and walked back to his bed. He reached down and grabbed the black shirt that Nazir had given him when he first came to the Ring. It was a tight fitting Nike athletic top. Percy slipped it on. Looking at his arms, he could see his well defined muscles curving underneath the black.
Black on black huh? Reminds me of Nico.
Percy walked toward the doorway that the boy had been dragged through. He followed the line of blood for about 20 feet until he saw a doorway to his right. He walked through and entered a fairly large room with tens of people. Some of them were combatants, some were guards, and some were captains. They ate at long beer hall style wooden tables. The room carried the sweet but intoxicating smell of wine. The room was filled with chatter, loud laughter and silverware rattling as drunken hands slapped their tables. Percy went and sat at the end of a table filled with about ten other combatants. There was a plate with beef stew and baguette bread already in front of him with a glass of wine to the side.
Percy took a bite of his bread and kept his head down, trying not to be noticed. He noticed his shoulder was brushing up against the shoulder of another male combatant. The seating was tight as the tables were packed. Right as Percy was about to eat some of his stew he heard his name called.
"IS THAT PERCY FUCKIN JACKSON?" He heard a drunken voice yell out. The chatter died down as Percy felt a hundred eyes on him. He looked up to see the man who had called him out. He was white, and looked to be in his late twenties. He was a large man, and had a huge ginger beard that was wet from spilt wine. He had equally messy ginger hair. "IT IS JACKSON" he shouted drunkenly when the two made eye contact.
Percy heard whispers around him, then the whole hall erupted into confused and excited chatter.
The Percy Jackson. Here, in the Ring?
He's smaller than I thought.
How the hell did he beat the titans?
I thought he had blonde hair!
Where's the fucking wine?
"Tell me, Percy Jackson, what's a hero like you doing down here with the lot of us?" Asked another man sitting three people down from him at his table. He was dirty and old looking, with a heavy Irish accent. He had many teeth missing and wore old stained rags with a beanie on top of him grimy head.
"For a crime I didn't commit" Percy responded.
The hall erupted with laughter. Hands smacked tables as many of the people held their sides trying to compose themselves. "Listen you peachy little fucker" the ginger haired man continued "I haven't introduced myself have I? I'm Grimwald. Been down here nine years. Heard that more times than I care to count. But I'll humor you. What crime are you innocent of that still landed you down here with us?"
Percy looked down at his lap, closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. He looked at Grimwald, right in his green eyes. "For the murder of my girlfriend, Annabeth Chase".
More whisper erupted around the hall. "Aye, I heard about that rubbish" the man with the Irish accent shouted. "Heard he killed her good he did".
"Bullshit Wallace" Grimwald yelled back. "The only thing you hear are the flies buzzing around your disgusting ears". The hall erupted with laughter once more.
'He's right Wallace" A black haired woman who looked to be around Percy's age said. "We don't hear about anything from the outside world. At least, not the lower level combatants".
Right then a guard ran into the hall, shouting "the King has returned! The King has returned!". The hall got deadly quiet. The guard stopped in front of the captains table, bending over and placing his hands on his knees, panting heavily. "It's true" he breathed "I was at his holding area which was empty, went to take a piss and when I came back he was there! He was fucking there, just staring at me!"
Nazir stood up, carrying a face that told Percy he had seen this before. "Well then, my fellow dishonored" he said in his commanding yet calm voice "Let's go welcome the return of our King".
