A/N: Need help. I need to stop updating this story so I can update the other stories. Halp.
Geoorby: Thanks for the read. And I'll update them soon.
Storimus: We'll see ;)
Surya25addanki: He is, don't worry.
HardlyDone: Good idea. I'll try it out.
PJandLGequalsLove: Wish granted my friend.
Chapter 2
After the what seemed like the umpteenth ghost, Nico was starting to get tired of the undead.
As a child of Hades, he could see most ghosts and spirits. Most of them don't mean any harm and wander aimlessly in the mortal world. Those who do want to harm him wouldn't dare to, not if they want a one-way trip to the Fields of Punishment.
But these ghosts were different.
These ghosts, Yurei, as Nico had been told what their names were, were not from the Greek pantheon. All of them looked like the ghost girl from The Ring. Long black hair, white dress that was tattered and torn and outstretched hands and feet. Again, as a child of Hades, Nico had no problem sending them back to the land of the dead. But it seemed endless.
"Is there no end to them?" Nico asked as he stood back to back with his new friend, Ken Mataro.
Nico met Ken when he was wandering through the forests of Camp Half-Blood. Nico received news from Grover that the trees told him that an entrance leading to the Underworld had opened up and it's scaring away the animals.
Being the only one who can handle it, Nico agreed to help. And that's where he met Ken, who claims that he's an exorcist slash Japanese demigod. At first, Nico thought that he's a demigod with a Japanese background but it turns out, he's literally a demigod from the Japanese pantheon.
From what Ken has told Nico, the Yomi - their version of the Underworld - has entrances that's been appearing all over the world and he's on a mission to seal those entrances.
Nico figured that since Underworld in different pantheons are merely an imagination of the same thing, helping Ken would mean helping himself as well. So they decided to cooperate.
Their only problem is that they are completely overwhelmed.
"If we can seal the entrance," Ken said. "Then the Yurei would stop pouring in."
"Any idea where it is?" Nico asked as he slashed down a ghost and his blade absorbed its essence.
Ken was dressed in a white hooded garb and pants. He carried a wooden staff, the tip of which is rounded into a circle with rings being linked along it so it looked like a glorified toy for babies. Around his waist was an assortment of bags filled with different things like a bunch of paper talismans, a flask of holy water, something what looked like a CD player and a bunch of other stuff that Nico didn't recognize.
"It's somewhere around here." Ken said as he took out a paper talisman, muttered an incantation and threw it at one of the Yurei. The paper seemed to fly on its own and stick itself onto the Yurei's forehead before exploding on impact.
"That's not very helpful." Nico grumbled.
"So is talking during combat." Ken replied. "Keep an eye out for the entrance."
This was going to take a while.
Line Break
Annabeth could almost feel her heart stop when she heard Jason's name.
"Jason?" Frank asked. "Blonde hair, tall, blue eyes?"
Asanagi nodded. "Grace has told me that he came from a Roman Legion. I suspected that he was referring to this place."
"Where is he?" Reyna asked. It was evident from her expression that she wanted to see him.
Asanagi closed his eyes momentarily. "I do not know. We met in Yomi for a while and parted ways afterwards. It seems that he has the same goal as us, to stop the dead from invading the world of the living."
"So, he's alive." Frank collapsed onto his chair. "Son of a bitch is alive. And all these years . . ."
"Did he say where he was going?" Reyna asked.
Asanagi shook his head. "He mentioned that it would be better for us to part ways. He is very skilled in combat though and a very powerful demigod. But after our brief encounter in the Yomi, I have never seen him since."
Disappointment was evident on all of their faces, but not Annabeth. If Jason's disappearance was caused by this incident, then maybe Percy . . .
"Excuse me, Asanagi." Annabeth said. "Have you encountered anyone with the name of Percy?"
Asanagi shook his head. "I can't say that I have. I have met a lot of demigods and warriors in my travels, but I don't recall meeting anyone with that name."
"I see." Annabeth was supposed to be disappointed, but she wasn't. If Jason is alive, then so is Percy. The slightest chance of seeing Percy again excites her, no matter how small that chance may be. She'd trained herself to not be optimistic and always consider the worst case scenario in every situation to avoid getting her hopes up, but this was Percy they're talking about.
"Annabeth," Hazel muttered softly. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Annabeth took a deep breath. "I'm just anxious."
"Don't worry." Hazel patted her shoulder. "If Jason's out there, then Percy's out there as well."
Annabeth nodded slightly. "You're right." She turned towards Asanagi. "What do we do now?"
Asanagi cleared his throat. "We search for any entrances of the Yomi and we seal it."
"How do we know what an entrance to the Yomi looks like?" Reyna asked.
"Oh, trust me. You'll know it when you see it."
Line Break
Annabeth has had her fair share of Underworld experience. She'd been to the Greek Underworld and back on several occasions.
None of which could've prepared for her visit to the Yomi.
The entrance was a swirling purple portal that lead to what seemed like eternal darkness.
Annabeth, Frank and Asanagi stood in front of the entrance. She could feel her palms getting sweaty.
"Well, you're right." Frank gulped. "We do know it if we see it."
"Right." Annabeth said as she tried to compose herself. "How do we do this?"
"Before we go in, I'd like for you to get rid of anything that can produce light." Asanagi said.
There was a momentary pause as he lets that sentence float around a bit.
"Wait." Frank said. "What do you mean, 'go in'?"
Asanagi raised an eyebrow. "We're going into the Yomi, of course."
"I thought you said we were going to seal it, not trap us inside it." Frank said, clearly a bit nervous about the idea of going into the Land of the Dead.
"The only way to seal it is from the inside." Asanagi explained. "Don't worry, I can get us all out. I've got, as you would call it, a one-way ticket out of the Yomi."
Frank laughed nervously. "We're going to the Underworld and you're making jokes." Frank grumbled. "And why do we need to get rid of anything that can produce light?"
"The Yomi is a realm of eternal darkness." Asanagi said. "And it is better to keep it that way."
"There it is again. You keep adding details to this place right before we're about to go in." Frank grumbled. "Eternal darkness? Shouldn't we bring something that can produce light so that we can - I don't know - see?"
"The last time someone lit up a light in the Yomi, he brought up the Goddess of Death." Asanagi shrugged.
Frank gulped. "No lights. Got it."
"How do we see if we're in eternal darkness?" Annabeth asked as she put away her flashlight.
"You'll see once we step inside." Asanagi nodded in assurance. "It will take me a while to seal the entrance and I'm going to need you guys to watch my back as I do it. The incantation is going to take a while and it can't be interrupted."
"Seems pretty straightforward." Annabeth took a few deep breaths.
Asanagi nodded. He then handed each Frank and Annabeth a green paper charm. It was the size of a postage stamp and had small red ribbon tied to one end of it. "This will protect you from the pollution of the Yomi."
Frank smelled the charm and recoiled. "Smells like rotten fish."
"At least it's better from the rotting scent of corpses." Asanagi said. "You guys ready?"
Annabeth stuffed the charm in her pocket and nodded. Asanagi then stepped into the portal, followed by Frank and Annabeth.
This is how Annabeth would best describe the Yomi.
The Greek Underworld was sad and depressing with a sprinkle of screams of torture, kind of like a Tim Burton movie.
The Yomi, however, was like a Stephen King book turned into a real life scenario. Darkness enveloped everything. Annabeth could barely see herself, much less what's in front of her. The winds whipped wildly around her with the sound of leaves and branches shaking by the wind.
While the Greek Underworld might've been scary, the Yomi was creepy and eerie. It was silent. Too silent for Annabeth's taste. Aside from the sound of trees and the wind, there was nothing else, which bothers her.
She'd feel a lot better if she could see around her. The silence was almost deafening, until Asanagi spoke up. "Give it time."
Annabeth blinked a few times and her vision sort of cleared up. It was still really dark, but Annabeth could almost see shapes in front of her. The sky was bloody red and it did little to light up anything for them to see. The more Annabeth blinked, the clearer she could "see".
"I wouldn't count this as 20/20 vision." Frank muttered. "But it'll do."
"Hush." Asanagi whispered. "Keep an eye out and keep your voices down. The Shikome have very excellent hearing and despite their looks, they're really fast."
"Shikome?" Annabeth whispered.
"I'll explain later. I will start the incantation." Asanagi whispered. "This will stir them up, but they probably won't attack."
"Probably?" Annabeth gripped her sword tighter.
"Stay alert." Asanagi said as he turned around and started to mutter an incantation that Annabeth could barely hear over the sound of the wind.
Annabeth and Frank just stood there and waited. Again, the silence was deafening. She couldn't even hear Asanagi's muttering now. Her heart was thumping against her chest. It's like waiting for a jumpscare that's never happening. She didn't know what to expect since she could barely see and she couldn't hear anything aside from the wind and trees.
"Frank?" Annabeth whispered.
No answer.
"Frank?" Annabeth whispered a little louder.
Again, no answer.
"Fra-"
"Shh." Frank said next to her. "Quiet."
"Where were you?" Annabeth snapped.
"Where were you?" Frank asked back. "I turned around and you were gone."
Annabeth was taken aback by his response. Did she move? "What do you mean?"
"I was having a look at what Asanagi was doing and when I turned around, you were gone." Frank whispered. "Where are you going?"
"I-I . . ." Annabeth couldn't find an answer. This place was not giving her good vibes. "Let's go back to where Asanagi is."
"Yeah, about that . . ." Frank said.
Annabeth scanned her surroundings to see that Asanagi was nowhere to be seen.
Shit.
They were lost in the Yomi.
Line Break
Nico could handle creepy. Heck, he had been known to be creepy himself. Scary even.
But the atmosphere of the Yomi unnerved him.
He could sense the thousands of ghosts and spirits all wailing and flying wildly around, creating heavy winds. That's the thing that unnerved him. He could only sense these spirits. Normally, he would be able to see them.
Given, the Yomi was pretty fucking dark. Nico thought about lighting up a torch, but Ken advised against it.
"Is this going to take a while?" Nico asked.
"About three to five minutes." Ken said. "Until then, I trust you have my back, yes?"
Nico nodded. He couldn't really "see" in the Yomi. It was more like he could sort of tell if something is there.
And there were a lot of things around them.
The silence of the Yomi bothered him. Although Nico didn't hear anything that sounded like danger, it made the situation far worse. If you could hear it, at least you know that something's there and you can be ready for an imminent attack.
If you can't hear it, it's like jumping off a building with your eyes close. You don't know when you're going to hit the ground. It just hits you suddenly then the next thing you know, you're dead.
Nico had probably only been standing there for a few seconds, but with the eerie silence it felt like hours.
On multiple occasions Nico felt something brushed against his cheek, like a cloth. But he ignored it.
Then, he spotted something at the distance. It was a ball of blue flames just floating around in empty space. It was like on of those will-o-wisps. It danced and floated in the distance, as if it was taunting Nico to come closer.
Nico knew better than to go to unknown territory. So he stood still and didn't move but he kept his sword ready at hand.
The wisp keeps dancing around, almost as if it was orbiting around something. Then the wisp starts to get closer.
Nico thought about calling Ken since he's the expert on the Yomi, but if he interrupts the sealing process now, it would be harder for them to seal the entrance.
The wisp starts to bounce closer and closer rhythmically, as if it's following the sound of footsteps.
Nico gripped his sword tighter. He'd never been scared of ghosts, but this was making him nervous.
The wisp bounced closer and closer, until it floated and flew straight at Nico at a rapid pace.
Something was definitely coming towards him now. Nico gritted his teeth and readied his sword. He could make up the outline of a person in the distance, running towards him with their sword on the ready.
The wisp was definitely circling that person as it twirled around them in excitement. From the wisp's light, Nico caught a glimpse of what seems to be Imperial Gold metal from their sword.
The person was getting closer. They raised their sword to strike and Nico raised his to block, but something grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.
The light was almost blinding as he returned to the world of the living. Ken had dragged him out of the Yomi.
"That was close." Ken huffed. "You okay?"
Nico didn't realize he'd been sweating and panting heavily. "What the hell just happened?"
"It's your first time, so I'm not surprised." Ken said. He didn't look too good as well because he's also sweating profusely. "My first experience in the Yomi put me in a coma for two weeks. Since you're a child of Hades, I figured you could handle it."
"In the Yomi," Nico panted. "There was a person. He had like a blue wisp around him and he was running towards us."
"Blue wisp?" Ken asked tiredly. "That's an Onibi."
"Onibi?"
"It was probably a Shikigami summoned by someone."
"Shikigami?" Nico shook his head. "Dude, you gotta hit me up with some English terms because the only other language I know is Italian."
Ken laughed tiredly. "Well, I'll explain it over a bath. We gotta get rid of the Yomi pollution on our body."
"I thought the charm you gave me was supposed to prevent that?" Nico asked.
"It's supposed to prevent an immediate effect of being in the Yomi, which it does. Now we've got to wash it off before we get inflicted with death."
"Sounds fun." Nico said tiredly.
A/N: Great to see you guys are enjoying it.