Flaming Pillars

Date Started: October 12, 2012

Date Finished: November 1, 2012

Disclaimer: I don't own the Percy Jackson series nor do I own League of Legends. This is a non-profit project and is solely for entertainment. The Percy Jackson series is owned by Rick Riordan and League of Legends is owned by RIOT respectively.

Summary: Music and Death had been companions since time immemorial, Music may forget but Death remembers, he always does, they may have escaped absolute nothingness but it is inevitable, even Death has its limits.

Chapter 1: The Muse

A sweet melody resonates throughout the building, every string plucked was a emotion released, those who listened fell trap to her melody, to them it seemed so familiar like they've heard it a thousand times before yet it seemed so new, then she realized it, she was back at the stage, she was back home, she played music with her etwahl until the final note was sung and her performance ended, applause was heard and a standing ovation was given as the curtains fell a small smile found their way on her lips, she was back home again, she looked through the window and saw the pristine, white, marble buildings of Demacia "Sona!" a voice called to her, the sound of her voice gave Sona comfort, by the strong smell of perfume she already knew who it was "It's time to go my dear, we need to go home now." the voice continued, standing before her was the owner of the voice, Lestera Buvelle, her loving adoptive mother, she gave a slow nod before following her mother to the carriage. She took a step forward and the whole world fell apart, the ground she stood on disappeared as walls around her dissolved into nothing, her hand acted on its own, she desperately held on to a piece of the floor as her etwahl fell into the darkness below "What are you doing there Sona? We have to go my child, today is a busy day after all." Her mother looked down at her as if disappearing floors were everyday hassles before turning to leave "If you don't move I'll be going without you!" her voice seemed so distant despite the fact that she was only a few steps away from Sona. To Sona's despair the floor slowly disappeared, she tried desperately to climb up but to no avail, she tried screaming for help but no sound came out of her mouth.

The last piece of the floor disappeared and Sona fell to the darkness below

Nothing shall take you away from us ever again.

A soft feminine voice whispered to her ear it was a distant voice from a distant memory.

You are ours forever...

The voice changed it wasn't the same voice she usually heard. This voice was harsh, loud and uncaring it was...

Corrupted.

Sona!

A monstrous, colorless hand shot out from the darkness it grabbed her and held her in a vice-like grip, her body screamed out in pain and the only way it was able to express it was by coughing up blood, she looked up to see her captor but instead of seeing a face images of horrible, unspeakable things flooded her mind, she could do nothing but stare in horror as every muscle in her body screamed in pain.

Wake up...

The same soft voice called to her

Please, wake up...

The voice pleaded, was that sound sobbing?

We don't want to lose you again...

Who are you? Why do you seem so familiar?

Wake up! Sona!

She opened her eyes to reality.

A multi-colored crystal gave off a soft dim glow as it throbbed and pulsed as if it was alive, curiosity drove him to touch it and upon contact he felt it's perfectly smooth surface, it roughly had the shape of a diamond and it was as tall as a fully grown man, he's never seen anything like it, the boy admired it for a moment, he could not tell if this crystal was man-made or natural, it was too smooth for unrefined metal but the shape was too edgy for a man-made product plus he was sure that no one works near the pit of Tartarus.

No one but some unknown entity's underlings of course.

The sound of wood stomping the cold hard ground brought him back from his musings, small miniature creatures clad in purple robes marched toward him, and some held short spiked metal lances with matching spiked metal-rimmed shields others carried small books of spells with matching wooden wands with glowing purple crystals on top. There were 6 all-in-all 3 melee and 3 casters, other than weapon types the design on the purple robes set the two classes apart, melee minions went for a much simpler look, the only designs visible were the series of white x that stitched the robe together to avoid it falling into two diagonal halves meanwhile the caster minions had two small glowing horns protruding from the hood and thick yellow lines adorned their robes.

They marched in perfect formation, 3 melee minions up front while the remaining caster minions marched from a distance. The son of Hades looked at the mindless constructs in confusion, skepticism even, these things were alien to him but surely they would recognize his authority as a son of Hades and walk away to wherever they came from, right?

"Turn back, now." he said in a commanding tone but the creatures whatever they were did not cease their advance, strange, he thought, the denizens of the underworld usually followed his commands as he tried to remember any myths concerning little purple monsters the caster minions fired spheres of arcane energy at him as the melee minions rushed their advance, the boy, try as he might was not able to dodge the arcane spheres sent at him, his aviator's jacket was singed and so was the skin underneath, the boy drew his 3 feet long Stygian Iron sword and jumped over the melee minions hoping to quickly dispatch the caster minions, he performed a jump slash effectively cutting a caster minion lengthwise, the thing fell into two pieces revealing an advanced form of circuitry as magical energy leapt out like electricity, he turned his attention to the remaining caster minions, the things flailed about launching arcane blasts at him as he cut the remaining two to pieces, the melee minions soon crossed weapons with the boy, the minions surrounded him in a triangle as they lunged at him lances at the ready, the boy willed the ground behind him to rise to act as a protective shield against the two minions behind him as he ducked under the first melee minion's strike, he stabbed the minion in its thigh but the thing was surprisingly durable, it turned to look at him with its white eyes further destroying its thigh region before going in for one last stab the boy quickly slashed upwards killing his opponent before the lance could even touch him, he turned his attention to the last two remaining minions who got around his wall, he struck first with a powerful diagonal slash which was expertly blocked by the minion with its shield, the force behind his swing caused his sword to be embedded to the minion's shield, the second minion did not stand idly it went in for a simple jab but the boy simply jumped away to avoid being struck by the lance, the two minions advanced toward him as the boy closed his eyes in concentration within the span of a few seconds the minions were within striking range they aimed for the boy's vital parts but their lances met nothing but air, the boy had dissolved into the shadows, seeing the threat had disappeared the two minions flanked the crystal as if they're only purpose was to protect it then the boy materialized on top of one of the minion's shadow and before the two minions could react the boy chopped the minion's head off with a piece of materialized shadow as he let its head roll down on a series of steps, the last remaining minion charged with it's shield raised and lance at the ready, the boy pulled out his sword from the dead minion's shield and waited for the last remaining minion to come within striking range and when it came he dodged under the lance and slashed diagonally instantly killing it but his sword accidentally struck the crystal and as it bounced off harmlessly the crystal vibrated with so much intensity that it exploded with a bright dazing array of lights as crystal shards exploded outward and the force threw the boy and the dust and debris covering the hidden platform away.

The boy's eyes struggled to adjust to the light as black splotches danced around his vision and his ears could only hear echoes of the explosion once his senses successfully readjusted he looked at the platform, it was made out of black stone, it had a circular base with stairs surrounding it, the center was flanked by two skillfully crafted statues of half-notes standing on onyx black pedestals and in the middle of these statues was a woman with light blue hair with a layer of blonde at the tip tied into a ponytail by two ornate bronze hair clips, she wore a strange blue robe and a curious looking instrument which looked like a cross between a keyboard and a lyre sat beside her, he was careful when he ascended the steps, if the myths taught him about anything it was to never trust pretty ladies mysteriously appearing out of nowhere. His sword gave off a faint light as he held it at the ready just in case the woman decides to suddenly turn into a malevolent creature that has a taste for demi-god flesh. The boy cautiously stepped on the platform and instantly recoiled when the woman stirred, she stood up groggily with a look of confusion, the boy was in plain sight but the woman was too busy trying to steady herself to notice a few seconds later and the woman finally composed herself she looked like she came out freshly from the parlor instead of the harrowing battle against the Void that decided the fate of their world. The woman stumbled backward in surprise landing butt first, he wondered what caused this, was it the sword? Or was it the feeling of dread he radiated? He took a careful step forward, careful not to provoke the woman but alas it seemed she was too confused by the recent events that she lashed out instinctively, she pulled at the air as if strumming a invisible string, he raised an eyebrow at the strange gesture before being struck by a yellow bolt in the shoulder from the strange instrument as he tumbled down the stairs a trail of blood following him the woman covered her mouth in horror after realizing what she'd done, she rushed down to the boy's unconscious body, her etwahl following her by floating in mid-air when she reached the boy she sat down and checked for any extra injuries, god forbid that she killed an innocent young man by acting rashly, she took a deep breath to relax her nerves, she could do this, she'd done it a thousand times before she could do it again, she placed her hands on her etwahl and she played a simple series of notes, the music she produced was soft and delicate and soon the boy's wounds started to disappear as if they were never there, the woman sighed in relief but that relief was replaced by shock when the boy's hand suddenly shot out and gripped her arm.

"Who are you?" he asked, apparently he was faking unconsciousness so that the woman would come into striking range of his sword, the woman simply looked around in confusion, he asked again this time in a more commanding tone "Tell me your name." Still no response, she simply played a few notes on her etwahl, the boy sighed in defeat, the woman upon sensing the boy's disappointment grabbed a rock and she wrote something on the dusty ground, the boy looked on in curiosity but alas he was dyslexic and he could not read what she wrote besides even if he wasn't the woman wrote in a language foreign to this world, the boy scratched his head, this was harder than he thought "Me Nico" the boy, now known as Nico, said gesturing to himself repeatedly before pointing his finger at the woman "You?" Whoa caveman talk, he never foresaw himself using that. The woman nodded in understanding as she played the Do-Re-Mi song abruptly stopping at So, he stared with a look of confusion at the woman it appears that he wasn't familiar with the musical scale but the woman kept on trying So was the first syllable in her name after all. After a few minutes of desperately repeating the same action over and over again in hopes of having a proper conversation she finally sighed in defeat, why did this instrument only convey her emotions? She needed to find a way to better communicate with him but how in the heavens was she supposed to do that? They both sat their thinking about their next course of action, the boy was first to act, he raised his hands in surrender and gestured for the woman to hold his hand, the woman held his hand cautiously it felt cold she noted, she gave him a quizzical look as they sunk into the shadows. She felt a intense cold feeling wash over her as different scenes from different places blurred past them, those were her only source of light otherwise the blackness of this realm would have consumed them, she looked at the boy's face his expression was resolute, focused, it brought back memories, so many had worn the same expression during the Void's invasion but as time passed they eventually faded away, it was replaced by sadness, hopelessness and sometimes insanity. Her thoughts were cut short when a blinding white light consumed them.

They reappeared in front of the gates of his father's throne room, the double doors and the walls were black as death itself and the torches sported ominous green flames, two skeletal guards sporting weaponry from the Second World War stood guard besides the entrance "Stay here and don't come in unless I say so." the boy said while gesturing to the woman, by the gods he swore he looked like an fool while doing it, the woman seemed to get the idea and he knocked on the heavy double doors and as expected the doors opened with an slow ominous sound revealing his father sitting on his throne with a calm unreadable expression, he entered and knelt to one knee awaiting his father's command.

"Speak." his father commanded

He spoke never tearing his gaze from the ground "I have investigated the anomaly as you have instructed father, I found a strange crystal floating in the middle of a alien structure it was guarded by small purple robe wearing creatures who seemed to be guarding it but they were dealt with easily once they showed their hostile nature however..."

"However?" his father asked

"I accidentally started a chain reaction when my sword hit the crystal in the heat of battle and..."

"And this woman appeared, am I correct my child?" his father signalled for his guards to bring the woman to her by snapping his fingers, the sound of a few notes accompanied by the sound of skeletons crumpling to the ground echoed throughout the chamber. Apparently she wasn't going in with the skeletons.

Nico rolled his eyed at the woman's stupidity.

"Father please let me go get her so we could avoid unnecessary bloodshed." his father gave him a nod and the boy grabbed the woman by the hand and dragged her to the throne room. The doors closed behind them as his father studied the woman in front of him.

"What is your name child?" he asked, the woman gave no response

"Father she does not speak our language..." the boy was cut off by his father who made a short 'sh' sound

You can trust me child, what is your name? The god of the Underworld asked her telepathically

Sona, Sona Buvelle the woman replied

What are you doing here in my realm? Where did you come from? Are you mute? Is that why you have not spoken to me?

I came here accidentally, the spell was supposed to bring me somewhere else, as for where I came from, I cannot tell you but yes, I was born mute and that's why I couldn't talk to any of you.

The god cut off their connection and he looked at his son "Nico this woman is Sona Buvelle I want you to teach her the language of mortals and when she is ready escort her out of here, I don't want to see her here again after that, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes father."

"Good you are dismissed."

Nico urged Sona to follow him to the library as soon as they stepped out of the room the doors closed behind them. Now Nico knew that you should never question a god unless you had a death wish but how was a dyslexic kid supposed to teach someone english?

Looks like he was going to need help from some ghosts, he sighed, this was going to be a long week.

A/N: And that wraps up chapter 1, I swear I could have made this more exciting, the ending just seems so bland, I guess I got lazy, I'm satisfied by the fight scene though, I'm afraid I might have made Nico and Hades a bit OOC since its been a long time since I've read the books and the wiki was of no help.

Anyways next chapter we're gonna see someone from the Shadow Isles or see how Nico will teach Sona english despite her being mute and Nico being dyslexic. So if you want to see who it is (or the wackiness of teaching someone english) then bear with my terrible grammar (And me not uploading anything for a few I don't know, weeks maybe?).

P.S I submitted this using my cellphone so don't blame me if something goes wrong. (Paragraphs don't appear, misplaced words, boxes where spaces should be etc.)

Until next time.