Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus Series.
Story: Champion of the Pit: Destiny's Warrior
Chapter 10: The Jailor and the Titan
"Death's Shadow" – the desert of Tartarus
Percy wiped his brow as he looked up at the mountain that loomed above him. He took a few deep breaths before he began to free climb up the side of the mountain. Percy climbed for a few hours, until he stopped about three hundred feet off the ground. He looked up toward the peak of the mountain. He adjusted his eye sight, as a son of Poseidon his eyes could adjust to any light level. He focused on the dark shapes up the side of the mountain until he spotted a cave that gave off a slight golden glow. Percy knew that color gold anywhere, it was the same color as Kronos's eyes.
Percy pulled himself up to a rocky ledge that was about a hundred feet from the cave that he had spotted earlier. He sat with his back against the side of the cliff. Percy took a few deep breaths before he readied himself to climb the last hundred feet. He stood to his full height before he continued the arduous climb. Two hours later Percy pulled himself up onto the ledge that would lead him to the cave entrance. He sat cross legged on the ground. At the current elevation the air was a little cooler than the desert below, but the air was thinner. Percy was used to thin air because of his time working in the mines.
Percy closed his eyes and used the concentration techniques that Perses taught him. He slowed his breathing as he began to open his mind to the world around him. Suddenly, an image of the inside of the cave flashed within his mind. Usually such an image would escape him, but Perses had taught him well. Percy slowed down his mind and replayed the image. He saw the inside of the cave. A golden light illuminated the inside of the cave. Percy focused on the light until he was standing inside a cavern that stretched for at least thirty feet to the rocky ceiling above. A golden man sat on a throne in the middle of the cavern. Percy focused on the man as he realized that the man was an automaton, he was made entirely of imperial gold. The automaton's eyes were made of pure golden light. As the machine looked around the cavern the creature's eyes illuminated the inside. The cavern was completely empty except for the throne. The golden eyes shifted toward the son of Poseidon. Percy was pulled out of the cave. He could feel his body move through the corridor of the cave until a green whip struck his astral form. Percy was forcibly throne from the cave and back into his body. Percy gasped for air as his eyes opened. He sat up quickly and took several deep breaths as he tried to calm himself.
A few minutes later Percy rose to his feet. He uncapped Riptide; the celestial bronze sword sprung to its full size. He walked toward the cave entrance slowly as he looked around for any unseen threats. He stopped at the entrance to the cave and looked inside as he adjusted his eyes to the low light of the cavern. He stepped inside; Riptide glowed with an ethereal light. Percy could see the gold light that he knew came from the golden eyes of the automaton, the latest host of Kronos.
Percy came to a halt as the scent of reptile and the putrid stench of decay filled his nostrils. Sudden movement behind Percy made the demigod duck as a green whip flew through the air and struck the rock wall behind him. Shards of rock exploded from the wall. Percy turned and froze at the sight before him. A woman with the upper body of a serpentine humanoid and the lower body made of an ever-changing and writhing mass of animals stood before him. Her lower body moved like flowing mud, but changed into the heads of lions, tigers, boars, bears and other wild creatures. Her legs were comprised of thousands of vipers that slithered along the floor like a living carpet of reptiles. Percy looked up at the monster's torso; a pair of black wings erupted from the creature's shoulders and behind her back was a green whip-like appendage tipped with a scorpion's stinger. Percy knew this monster; she had almost killed him and his friends in the Labyrinth. "Kampe," he said.
The creature smiled showing off her silver fangs. "Perssseee Jackssson," Kampe hissed.
Percy bowed his head slightly, but he never took his eyes off the monster. "Here to protect your master, I see."
Kampe growled and the heads that made up her waist howled in unison. Percy stepped back to give himself more room. He concentrated on the water within his body and willed his skin to harden and his muscles and bone to strengthen. He hoped it would be enough to even the odds against the monster before him. Kampe's tail lunged forward, but Percy saw it coming. He slid under the tail, while he swung Riptide in a short and quick arc. The blade cut through the tail sending the scorpion stinger flying through the air before it struck the rock wall imbedding itself within the hard stone.
Percy backed up toward the entrance of the cave. He knew the tight quarters wouldn't help him, but the outside would also give Kampe an advantage; she would be able to use her wings. Percy took a deep breath and continued toward the cave entrance. Kampe followed him warily as her severed tail sent poisonous drops of blood around the cave. The blood burned the stone like an acid when it struck the surface. Percy made a mental note to avoid the tail and the blood.
He backed out of the cave into the artificial light of Tartarus; Kampe followed the demigod. She blinked her reptilian eyes a few times before they adjusted to the light. Percy stopped at the edge of the ledge that he had just climbed a few minutes earlier. Kampe growled before she charged the demigod. Percy waited for the last moment and dove out of the way before he rolled toward the cave entrance. Kampe fell over the side of the cliff and tumbled toward the desert floor below. Percy jumped to his feet; he knew that Kampe wouldn't take long to extend her wings and make it back to the cave. Percy ran into the cave and concentrated on the rocky ceiling of the cave. Kampe appeared at the cave entrance just as the first earthquake shook the cave. The ceiling of the cave collapsed between Percy and the monster. Percy was sealed within the cave while Kampe stood outside of the cave bellowing with anger. She began the difficult task of removing the rocks.
Percy sighed. He knew that Kampe would eventually remove the rocks, so he had to confront Kronos now before the monster arrived. Percy turned with Riptide held in front of him like a torch. He strode toward the central cavern that he'd seen in his vision. He reached the opening of the cavern and looked inside. The automaton that contained the spirit of Kronos sat on the same golden throne that he'd seen in his vision. Percy stepped into the cavern and immediately the machine opened its golden eyes and stared at the son of Poseidon.
"Perseus Jackson," Kronos said with the same raspy voice that Percy remembered from his nightmares.
"Hello, grandpa," Percy replied. The Machine's golden eyes flared with power.
"You've come to Tartarus to challenge me?" Kronos asked in disbelief.
"I was sent her by Zeus to be punished, but I came to find you to make you fade," Percy replied.
The machine stood up and towered above Percy. "Make me fade,"Kronos repeated. The Titan began to laugh, which caused the cavern to shake with his power. "You are a bigger fool than I remember." Kronos's hand began to glow before a replica of the Titan's scythe appeared in his hand. "I may have lost the fight against my children, but I can at least get revenge on you."
Kronos swiped his scythe towards Percy, but the son of Poseidon caught the strike with Riptide. Kronos pushed against the boy's blade, but Percy didn't budge. The machine's servos began make a high pitched noise as smoke began to pour out of the machine's arm joints. Kronos's gold eyes glowed brighter, but Percy never budged. "I think you picked the wrong host," Percy said before he slipped to the side of the machine. The two weapons disengaged, but Kronos lost his balance while Percy swept his blade against the machine's back severing an oil line. Dark red oil spilled from the robot and onto the ground. Kronos turned around to look at the demigod. "You've gotten stronger," Kronos said.
Percy smiled. "I had a good trainer," he said.
"Who?"
Percy's smile grew. "Perses," he replied simply. Kronos's eyes narrowed. "That traitor," Kronos yelled. Percy's green eyes flared with anger. He charged forward at incredible speed. Kronos raised his hand and time slowed around the son of Poseidon. Percy knew what was going on. Kronos slowly moved toward the demigod who was frozen in time. "Time to die Perseus." Percy narrowed his eyes as he opened his mind to the world around him. He concentrated on the rock and ground beneath his feet. He could use it like he did the water on the Princess Andromeda when he broke the Titan's spell that one time before. Percy's eyes flashed with power as the ground began to shake a large boulder struck the back of the automaton breaking the Titan's concentration. The time spell broke and Percy was ready. He sprung forward at full speed before he ducked under the Scythe. Percy reached out and grabbed the scythe as it passed over his head. He pulled the weapon as his momentum continued forward. The scythe broke loose of Kronos's grip just before Percy imbedded Riptide into the chest of the machine. Kronos's eyes widened in shock, but Percy wasn't done. Percy spun the scythe with his other hand before he sliced the weapon in a broad arc across the machine's neck severing the head from the robot's shoulders. The metal head slid across the floor, which signaled the end of the Titan. Kronos's spirit was pulled from the machine in two balls of light. One white with the Titan's spirit and the other a gold ball filled with the immortal's power over time.
Percy spun the scythe around with his left hand before he reached down and pulled Riptide out of the machine's chest. The white ball floated up and through the ceiling, but the gold ball stayed where it was. Percy stepped toward the last ball of light with his eyes locked on the glowing orb. The ball of light moved toward the son of Poseidon before it entered the demigod's chest. Percy closed his eyes before his body was covered with a golden aura. A sea green aura followed before a bright blast of white light illuminated the cavern. When the light dimmed Percy stood in the middle of the cavern with his eyes closed. He opened his eyes to reveal sea green orbs rimmed with gold.
The cave entrance exploded before Kampe entered the cavern. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the lifeless automaton on the floor with the son of Poseidon standing above it with his sword and the Titan's scythe in hand. Kampe screamed and charged, but froze when Percy's eyes flashed gold and time stopped around the monster's body. Percy raised the scythe before he began to spin the weapon end over end like a windmill. Kampe's reptilian eyes widened before Percy threw the scythe at the monster. The blade sunk deeply within the monster's forehead pulling the creature's life force from its body. The creature's body dissolved into a black puddle of goo. The black slime slid across the stone ground before it seeped into a crack in the floor. Percy raised his hand and the scythe returned from its position on the ground. Percy capped Riptide before the blade returned to its pen form. Percy stared at the scythe before the weapon glowed and dissolved into a celestial bronze ring on the middle finger of Percy's left hand.
Percy walked out of the cave. He squinted his eyes slightly before his eyesight grew accustom to the artificial light of Tartarus. Percy looked toward the horizon where he saw the great palace of Tartarus and the mines beyond it. He turned back toward the cave and gave it one last look. He turned around with a broad smile on his face. He closed his eyes as he felt the power of the Titan blended with his powers as a son of Poseidon. Percy wondered what that made him now. Was he a Titan, a god, or something else? Percy knew it didn't really matter here in Tartarus, but he knew some day that he'd find the truth. He walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down. He no longer felt any fear of falling. He smiled again before he jumped off the edge of the cliff and fell toward the desert floor below. As he reached the surface his eyes glowed as time stopped around him. He stopped his descent when he was only a few inches from the surface of the desert floor. He returned time to normal before he landed softly on the ground.
Percy stood at the bottom of the mountain. He looked back toward the direction he'd traveled. "Time to go home," he said before he walked back toward the mines of Tartarus.
AN: This ends the quest within Death's Shadow. Next chapter Percy will return to his home with Perses before his quest for power and freedom from the Pit continues, so stay tuned.