Hi guys, sorry for the late update but it is CHRISTMAS! I believe everyone was busy and hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas celebration. To those who complain about my grammer, yeah I'm working on it from chapter 1 slowly back up and if anyone of you wishes to check it for me that would be great. However, make sure you really do it. I've tried a few who approached me and they ended up giving me empty promises. Anyway sorry about the ranting here's the new chapter, enjoy!
Percy
"Hi" I broke the silence. "I'm Percy. This is Annabeth and this is Zoe." I introduced us. It's a little stupid yes, to have a mini icebreaker session with someone who's about to kill you. Before I could continue, she raised her hand to stop me.
"I know who you guys are." She stopped me. "And I don't think I have to introduce myself do I?" She asked… rather nicely for an evil primordial. Standing at an enormous size of 40ft, sitting on a chariot ridden by undead horses and the dark surrounding around her, I don't think it was necessary.
"I'm not here to kill you don't worry." She waved her hands like it was a trivial matter, which makes me worry more- An evil primordial not here to kill us. "I've killed enough people, gods or not in my life. That's why I chose to reside in Tartarus, to help that idiot streamline the monsters leaving here." She added.
"So you're here to help us?" I asked, and this time I was quite hopeful because there wasn't a hysterical laugher afterward.
"In a way," She twirl around with her black wavy hair like Zoe's, but much longer. "I know you need to cross my mansion to reach the Door of Death, and I'm going to let you do it." She said.
"What's the catch?" I was going to says thanks, but Annabeth beat me to it.
"Ah, a child of Athena I see. Yes there is, just one." She admitted. I knew it! …Ok I didn't know it.
"My mansion is filled with… stuff. Stuff that would probably corrupt one's mind, lose their sanity, if not traumatize him if he's not a monster or a god." She explained.
"How about demigods?" I asked gleefully, and unfortunately she shook her head.
"One of you has to go through the mansion with your eyes open, to guide your other two companions obviously. I swear on the Styx if that would assure you, but such oaths have no restrictions on us primordial." She assured us, in a way.
"Why can't you guide us through? It's your home after all. You'll know your way around it better than us. I don't want to wander into the toilet unintentionally" I blurted out.
"You're a funny demigod." She chuckled. "But no, I cannot do that. You of all people should know that we immortals always want something in return for a favour. It's like a common practice all of us follow. I've already made it very simple for you." She composed herself and said calmly.
"I'll do it then." I said, after a moment of ponder and immediately I was yanked back by two angry looking women."
"Are you crazy? You might die in there." Annabeth looked at me incredulously.
"As much I wish to see you dead, she's right. You're too important to lose… for now." Zoe agreed with her.
"Yeah, she's right. Even if someone has to go, it's me. I was the one who dragged you into this mess.
"No we can't. We need your ingenious plans-"
"But my plans won't work without you, and we need Zoe to cover us." Annabeth interrupted us, and we were stuck in a stalemate.
"Unless," we turned our heads towards Nyx who was twirling with her hair. It's hard to tell she's actually a primordial. She has like so little of those godly air/pride/attitude/whatever. "If any of you could find your way around my mansion without seeing, you guys are clear to go." She said it as if it was common sense. It is, but the question is who? We gathered around again to formulate a plan, but even with Annabeth around we still couldn't find a way through it. Even if we went in with our eyes closed, there was no way we would know where we are going. We could really end up in the toilet this time.
"Umm… I hate to bother your discussion… I may not want to kill you guys, but my children do have a strong desire for demigods. They're like a rare delicacy here. I say you have about 5 minutes to decide what you want to do before they arrive." Nyx said with a cheekily smile, which kind of reminds of me. She's like the female version of me. If only she wasn't a primordial who lives in Tartarus. We would have made really good friends, or even a couple.
"Yeah, we might have." Nyx said with a wink to me which makes me blush a little, and the incredulous looks of two women.
"Let's go in before Nyx's children arrive." I hurried the two nosy women forward.
"Just jump into the hole in front of you and you will enter my mansion." Nyx mentioned from atop her chariot.
"What ho-"Annabeth and Zoe held me back just in time, right before the…
"This isn't a hole!" I screamed up at Nyx, who merely shrugged and smiled cheekily at me. It was almost impossible to see the huge crack in the floor with Nyx zoning out all the light.
"What's the difference? You're still going to jump in anyway. See you at the other end." She waved at us before riding her chariot into the 'hole'. Damn she can be irritating. Now I know how Artemis feels when I annoy her all the time.
"So…we're just going to jump in like this?" Annabeth asked as we stared at the seemingly endless hole. It would be funny if we were to die because of the fall.
"Will we die from the fall?!" I shouted into the hole, and I could hear countless echoes.
"I'll cushion your fall. Just jump before you die!" She shouted back. I would have stayed up here a little longer, to discuss about it because trusting a Primordial is quite a big deal. However, the roar of some other godly down here kind of changed my mind.
"That would be my daughter Eris." She screamed out.
"E-who?" I asked. There was a loud sigh, followed by a pull that sent us all toppling into the hole. Great, just what we needed- Falling into another hole in Tartarus. Fortunately this time, the fall was a rather short one and it was indeed cushioned by Nyx. By cushion, I meant us stopping right before we hit the floor, not literally having cushions below.
"I told you I would cushion your fall, or were you expecting real cushions?" She asked gleefully, and I was sure she was smiling cheekily. "Anyway, you're right at the doorstep of my mansion. I would love to give you a tour but you guys can't open your eyes. Good luck finding your way out." She said, followed by the sound of her horse neighing.
"A clue would be nice." I said got up.
"Think it simple." She shouted. Alright, first thing first,
"Zoe, Annabeth where are you?" I stretched my hand out to find them, like a blind guy trying to find his way around without his cane and I grabbed until something…soft. Oh crap. I quickly pulled my hand to the side, along the shoulder and down to her hand. Please be Annabeth. Please be Annabeth.
"Annabeth?" I asked, although judging by how smooth her skin was the answer was clear. For some reason I would never understand, all the hunters are fair and have baby smooth skins. I wondered if it has something to with Artemis's blessing.
"I'm here." Annabeth's voice came from behind me. Thankfully, I couldn't open my eyes in here so I won't have to see Zoe's wrathful look. I turned around quickly, still one hand holding on to Zoe's, wouldn't want to repeat the same incident again. This time, I was smart enough to not reach out my hand like an idiot again. I wouldn't mind but… it's not the right thing to do. I already have a set of godly breast back at home to touch. I grabbed onto Annabeth's hand and we stood there for quite some time.
"Any idea how to get to the other side?" I asked. Honestly, I have no idea at all. I can't even find my way to the kitchen in the hunt blindfolded.
"Ask you." Both of them said at the time. "You're the one who clicked with Nyx so easily back there. You two practically have the same mind-set, and the ability to annoy people." Annabeth stated which was kind of true.
"Let's just start walking first shall we?" I suggested, after giving much 'considerable' thought to it.
"Ok sure. Let's just start walking into probably the deadliest mansion which blindly and hopefully things would turn out right." Zoe snapped, which I'm pretty sure it isn't about my suggestion.
"You have any other bright idea?" I snapped back a little, I only dared to do this because I can't see her. It usually works with Artemis- just suddenly snap at her when she's raging/nagging and she will startle and stop. Apparently, it works with Zoe too. She startled a little and then kept quiet.
"We'll just keep walking until we hit a wall or something. That way, it will be easier for us if we need to retrace our steps." I told them my plan. A stupid plan, but that's all I got.
"I'll keep track of our many steps and which turn we take." Annabeth improved on my bang-the-wall idea. Zoe just kept quiet, probably fuming with rage inside but couldn't let it out now. Together, we set off into the mansion. Despite having my eyes closed, the eerie sound echoing through the mansion was creepy enough. There seemed to be bats in the place, and some hissing from some other creatures. I tightened my grip around Annabeth and Zoe's hand. Nyx may say she's giving us free pass, but who knows she might have lied and set traps for us to die. Anyway, we kept walking, and walking, and walking until,
"Congratulations!" Nyx voice sounded again. "You've made it out of my mansion already. You can open your eyes now." She said cheerfully. I didn't dare to open my eyes. Usually, you can still sort of feel the brightness even when your eyes are closed. But here, the kind of feeling was the same throughout.
"Oh come on do we really have to go through this again? I don't need to use such trickery to kill you. A snap of my finger and my horses will trample you to death." She said, and I gingerly opened my eyes.
"What the-" I stepped back a little when I saw Nyx's beaming face just inches away from me. Annabeth and Zoe opened their eyes too, and were a little startled too. Nyx was giggling away like a little kid who got her candy.
"Are you sure you're the primordial goddess of the night? You feel so…bright, and aren't you like this tall? Why are you this tall?" I used my hand to gauge.
"My only domain is being the primordial goddess of the night and for your information, night doesn't equate to being all dark and evil. I was portrayed as dark and evil because you humans are afraid of the dark and their own shadow and they blame me for that. Just because the night can't give you any sunlight to grow your plants, you blame me. I made the weather cooling for them by blocking of the sun. They blame me for making it too cold. I'm a very cheerful and fun-loving person too you know!" Nyx chided me.
"Oh…" It was the only word that came out of me.
"That's already the past." Nyx swept it off. "Anyway, you've made it out of my mansion. I know it is still pitch dark but that's because of my presence. The ground is actually bright red for your information." She suddenly went all depressed and stuff. Talk about Artemis's mode swing, this is a whole new level. "I'll miss you Percy." She suddenly engulfed me in a hug. Annabeth was smiling a little evilly at me for some reason and Zoe, oh boy this is going to reflect bad on her assessment on me. I could only shrug and hug her back.
"I know!" She suddenly pulled back. "I could come and find you at night!" She beamed at me. "We could have so much fun together without all these quest stuff." She grabbed me into her chest and smothered me with her breast as she swayed around.
"That's settled." She finally pulled me back up. My face is probably burning red from the lack of oxygen and…that. "Don't worry I'll be able to find you, I'm a primordial after all." She pinched my nose as if I was a little child. Well, I am considered little to her I guess.
"Just head straight and you will find the Door of Death and Gaea little armies of monsters. Good luck and don't die, I still want you alive to play with me. Actually, it doesn't really matter. I could always ask Gaea to spare you and bring you to me." She released me. "Bye Percy Jackson." She winked at me before disappearing into body of bats. I got to admit it was quite cool. The place immediately brightened up. The sky is a little less dark and the ground was back to its bright red colour.
"You don't think she's being serious do you? The whole coming to Earth to find me part." I asked Annabeth, who merely shrugged.
"I mean. We are going to close the Door of Death. How is she going to come to Earth, and besides," I leaned in closer to her. "How am I supposed to explain to Artemis when she sees me with Nyx? You know her unreasonable jealously." I whispered softly, making sure Zoe doesn't hear it.
"That," Annabeth replied "is for you to find out, and for me to know. " She smirked at me and joined up with Zoe. We continued moving forward without any rest. There's wasn't any need to. A second more in Tartarus means more danger. As we travelled, the sounds of monsters roaring get louder and louder. Finally, we could see the Door of Death from afar. It was like a normal elevator, except that this one had no end to it. It just kept going up and up and up. I always thought that the Door of Death is really a Door. Like some mystical portal that connects Tartarus and Earth. I never knew even Tartarus would catch up with technology. In front of the Door was Gaea armies of monsters. There were like hundreds or even thousands of them all in some sort of platoon arrangements. How are we supposed to pass through them? Our demigod scents are masked thanks to the Death Mist but that's that. Even if we were to queue up for our turn, the Mist will probably wear off the by then.
"What's the plan wisegirl?" I asked Annabeth, who seemed to be too busy analysing the situation.
"We should sneak into between their ranks. See how does the Door works first and who's controlling it. Perhaps we could sneak a ride in it." Annabeth got up and started moving towards the monsters slowly with me and Zoe following closely behind her. I had doubts in her plan. I think anyone would have doubts about it like what if we get caught? But the look on Annabeth's face showed that she was pretty determined and confident of it.
The monsters didn't notice us at all. We literally walked past them and they have no idea we were there. It seemed that the Death Mist not only shrouded our scent, but also our physical existence. Despite so, we kept our noise and traces to the minimum, although I would make some funny faces at the monsters for fun. We sneaked our ways right to the front. The elevator, or door, was guarded by two Giants. Annabeth did whisper their names to me but I didn't catch it.
"Fools!" A deep, ominous voice reigned through the place, followed by the appearance of probably the most terrifying person I've ever met (Not Artemis). Standing in front of us looks like a mere war-hardened human. He was wearing some ancient knight armours, except that his was made of pure black and the pictures of monsters pictured on his breastplate. Unlike Thalia's aegis, they were more than just mere pictures. They seemed to be real monsters, trapped within him. There were sounds, sounds of monsters crying out, as if they were trying to escape from him. What's most terrifying was the aura he radiated. The feeling emitted seemed to be sucking the life out of me. It makes me want to just crumble and give up. The feeling of despair and helplessness was that strong. Only then I realised who he was.
"You really think you could get away so easily?" He roared, and with a swept of his arm a strong gust of wind blew through us, removing the Death Mist off us. I drew my sword in defence shakily. My mind only registered one word-fear. He simply walked up towards us, and with another swept of his hand he sent Annabeth and Zoe flying backward and simply plucked Riptide out of my hand with ease.
"So you're Percy Jackson. I've heard a lot about you here in Tartarus." He looked directly into my eyes. I saw nothing. His eyes were filled with void. It seems to be devoid of emotions.
"Let me show you why they say Tartarus is the scariest place to be!" He roared! I felt myself being transported to another place. It looks exactly like Tartarus, but much emptier without Gaea's armies, Annabeth or Zoe.
"This is but a watered down version of Tartarus. Allow me to show you the true form of Tartarus." The whole place started shaking and turning upside down. Everything started to turn black, and that was all that I could remember. The things I saw, words couldn't describe them. They could probably be the same thing Nyx didn't want us to see. Then, there were so many ghosts around me, brushing past me. Every brush seemed to inflict with me so much pain. Some were pure pain, as if someone just stabbed me with a knife. There was one which was straight to my heart. It wasn't physical pain. It was emotional, the kind of feeling I felt when Artemis said she hated me.
"Remember all the monsters you killed? These, are but a mere fraction of the pain they SUFFERED! That emotional pain you're feeling. Do you want to know who does it belong to? It's from Calypso, the girl you promised to return and free her after the war. That was what she felt when she realised you have broken your promise, after all that she's have done for you all! Now, you shall feel the full wrath of their suffering!" He roared, but people the pain could amplify it stopped and I was thrown back into reality. I immediately fell backward and thankfully Zoe and Annabeth caught me. My whole body was trembling badly. Bob appeared in front of me and bent down. He looked at my shivering body and tapped on me lightly, somehow calming me down.
"Why?" I asked. He didn't reply, but stood up and pointed in front. It was Damasen! She was riding the Drakon.
"You always wanted me to be more warlike father. Now you shall have it!" She drew her spear and charged at Tartarus in a head on clash.
"We don't have much time. Damasen wouldn't last long against Tartarus. We need to get you to the elevator now." He ordered and charged forward to clear the path for us. The armies of monsters simply disintegrated into dust before Bob's mightily broom skill. We followed behind him and we made to the elevator easily.
"Now just what you're doing Iapetus? The Titan guards came forward and stopped us.
"Move aside brothers. We need to help the demigods get out of Tartarus-"
"And help them oppose mother Gaea?" One of the titans cut him off.
"We all know we'll going to die too if Gaea and her Giants win. Why not help the gods? Don't be foolish brothers." Bob tried again in vain as the two titans drew their weapon. However, before they could fight, Damasen's Drakon suddenly charged in and knocked the two titans away. Instead of taking the advantage, Bob quickly grabbed us and threw us into the elevator.
"Someone must hold on to the button to make sure you reach the top." Bob said, knowing full well that meant him.
"But you're-"
"Die yes, but it's inevitable. At least I did something good for a change in my life. Good bye Percy and Annabeth. It's been my honour to call you my friends." He smiled at us with his usual cheerfulness as he pressed the button, shutting the door at us. The lift charged upwards. There were silent in the elevator. We've just abandoned not one, but two of them. Three if you count the Drakon. The chances of them surviving were practically zero with Tartarus in the picture. Why does he care so much anyway? Can't he just go back to sleep like he did for the past few millennia?
"Come on. Bob wouldn't want you to be sad." Annabeth came over and hugged me, but even as she said that she was also tearing.
"I was the one who got him into this mess. He was only trying to help." I sobbed. Despite all the bad he may have done in the past, he didn't deserve such end, so does Damasen." I added. It was us who spurred her to join us. She could have lived.
"They did it because they believed in you. They saw hope in you, that's why they came to help. You wouldn't want them to sacrifice in vain would you?" Annabeth comforted me, and I could do was shake my head.
"Good." Zoe commended. "Because if they find out you are sitting here crying and doing nothing, they'll probably come back and kill you." She added.
"I know you're sad too Zoe. No need to put on the tough act." I went over and hugged her. I heard Annabeth gasping, but I didn't care. At that point, I just inhaled her lovely forest scent. It's much like Artemis's, but a little more feminine to it. It reminded me closely to Artemis, and it sort of calmed me down.
"Alright get off me already." Zoe pulled me away, her cheeks blushing bright red in contrast to her pale skin. It looked so cute, makes me want to hug her again but I settled for chuckling.
"No one else can know of this you get it Jackson." Zoe said in a harsh tone, but anyone can tell she's faking it. Just then, the lift started to slow down. We drew our weapons in preparation. Our death mist wore off so we can't sneak through them anymore. The door begins to open, and in front of us was quite a scene. There were demigods, about 5 of them, were fighting in an all-out battle. Hazel and Jason were engaging a Giant, while the other three was fighting off the monsters in the region. We rushed to join the fight, with me charging towards the Giant while Annabeth and Zoe went to fight off the monsters.
"Hey spikey." I jumped in beside Jason.
"Talk later." Jason shut me up and jumped on the Giant. I followed suit and charged at the Giant. While we were doing that, I noticed Hazel disappearing and popping in out of nowhere and shooting fire? I know she can go underground and stuff, but since when can she teleport? The giant was literally overwhelmed. Jason and I was attacking on both sides so when he's busy with Jason, I would slash him on the other side and also Hazel burning him back once in a while.
"Fools!" He did some sweeping moves, forcing us to back away from him. "Your attacks can't kill you. Even if you know my weakness, your puny little fire is too weak. You'll eventually tire out, and that's where you will die!" He laughed. I don't exactly understand what he meant, but he got one part wrong.
"Then how about my fire?" I asked as I lit my sword on fire, Greek fire. Jason was just woah, that's some cool shit you got there.
"Impressive. A sea spawn having control over fire. Nonetheless, even a sword lit with Greek fire still can't kill me. Hecate had to use all her powers to cremate me alive. You don't have that amount of power to do that!" He laughed, but it was cut short by another voice.
"So I guess I'll have to do this myself?" A floating woman appeared in front of us with her hands lit with fire. Damn I wished I could float like her. It would so useful to escape from Artemis later on.
"Hecate." The giant spat. "About time you show up. I'm going to kill you this time, and Dionysus and Hercules aren't here to help you." The giant lifted his weapon and charged at her. I expected her to fight back but instead, she merely flashed away, leaving the giant charging at us. Thankfully, we managed to roll away in time. Jason managed to stab a knife behind the Giant's knee, causing him to stumble. Hazel then popped in out of nowhere and stabbed the Giant right at the head. Only when the Giant was incapacitated and half dead, Hecate appeared and lit the Giant aflame with a simple touch.
"I could have done that too." I spoke softly.
"But you're not a god, so you'll still need my help in the end." Hecate turned over and smirked at me before flashing away.
"Burned." Jason snickered at me. I gave him an elbow and flicked a little spark onto him, making him jump in pain.
"Burned." I mimicked his tone. He rubbed his arm as he gave me an angry look, before both of us breaking into laugher.
"Watch out!" Frank's voice shouted as we turned around, only to see a cyclops with his club up the air aiming at me. I dodged it easily and I lifted my sword, ready to cut him in half when my body suddenly froze in its state. The memories of me being held by Tartarus and the pain of all the monsters I killed suddenly returned. My hands started trembling badly as I dropped my sword onto the floor. By then, the cyclops has recovered and was ready to take another swing at me when a blade went through his guts, disintegrating him into dust. Jason looked at me incredulously at my current state.
"I-I can't do it." I muttered out.
The story is not total according to the book. I added some, forgot some and the sequence and etc. Anyway that's it for this chapter. Till then, review and bye!