"Ugh, I did it again…" Percy griped to himself, while wandering the uncertain terrain of Tartarus. "I'm supposed to be distancing myself from her, not grabbing her! Fucking idiot…"
"Ya got that right, King! Ya sure are a dumbass!" a shrill voice echoed behind the demigod. He turned his head to glance at his companion; a carbon-copy of himself, just with different colors. White hair, pure white skin, black teeth and eyes, and a massive, toothy, feral grin.
"Fuck you- horses shouldn't be talkin'," Percy replied, irritated.
"But ain't ya the son of that salty bastard?"
The son of Poseidon was silent for a moment. Then, "Remind me why I haven't killed ya yet?"
"Because…" The discolored Percy trailed off, seemingly deep in thought. He slammed a fist down into his palm. "Oh, right! 'Cuz ya can't!" the clone shrieked, then broke off into an ear-piercing laugh.
Percy growled, pulling Riptide out of his pocket. He could use it now, since nobody was around to see and figure out his identity. Uncapping the pen, he whirled around and made a quick slash across his clone's throat, reducing his cackling to gurgling. The paper-white version of the demigod fell face-first to the ground, blue blood pooling around his head. Moment's later, the corpse disappeared.
"That wasn't very nice of ya, King!" the clone shrieked in Percy's head, "In fact, I'm so sad, I might just start singin'! O~h, ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall-!"
"That doesn't even make sense!" Percy shouted, his voice bouncing throughout the Pit. He was starting to regret his decision to come here, since he was now saddled with that damnable voice in his head.
It was one of the weirdest things Percy had ever seen; his mask, which he had been wearing at the time, simply floated off his face. Then, it began to spew a white substance from the back, where his face went- the same stuff that bubbled up from his skin when his high-speed regeneration activated. The liquid hardened into a humanoid shape of similar build to Percy, then condensed slightly to sharpen the details. It resulted in the clone, who was still wearing the mask at the time, which was honestly quite disturbing. It didn't help that he was definitely insane, his voice was annoying, and he had an odd fascination with kings and horses, talking about how the horse was the weaker person of the two. Then, he had the nerve to try and jump Percy. The demigod beat his ass, of course, but it was a lot closer than he would have liked. He had to tap into some of his other abilities, things the mask didn't have access to.
After getting beat, the mask-clone took off the mask, revealing that his face was exactly the same as Percy's, just with different colors. It was so revolting that Percy punched him in the face again.
Now, here they were, with Percy walking through Tartarus, followed by his off-color clone- who he called Horse, due to his obsession with them- and searching for something to fight. Unfortunately, nothing was to be found. It seemed that the weaker monsters were too scared of him, and the stronger ones, like the Titans and Giants, had better things to do. All in all, this trip had become a complete bust. At least if he had stayed in Artemis' camp, he could've been playing video games, or messed around with the goddess herself… Actually, that last one was something he needed to avoid. It simply wouldn't do to fall for her even more, especially when he had no chance with her. She wanted answers, and that was it.
"Right, she's only in it for the answers… For the answers…" Percy mumbled, and spent the next hour or so repeating that line to himself. He only stopped when Horse finally got bored, and began singing again.
"Ergh… Maybe I should go talk to Nyx and see if I can get rid of you…" he told the voice in his head, who merely cackled. Percy decided in that instant that he was definitely going to see the Primordial. Probably not the best idea, since she might have been pissed off at him because of last time, but he was hoping that the absurdity of the situation would distract her from that.
Percy broke into a run, making use of his long legs and powerful muscles to cover ground like a cheetah with incredible staying power. It took a few days- maybe, since time was weird down here- and a few tumbles when he tripped on nearly-invisible rocks, but Percy finally arrived at the left foot of Tartarus, overlooking the Void of Chaos.
Sitting cross-legged on a large boulder nearby was a woman, about the same size as Percy. She had ashen gray skin, with greasy hair falling down past her shoulders. She wore a gray dress so tattered, it looked like a potato sack with arm holes.
"Hey, Akhyls, think you can call your mom out?" Percy asked the Goddess of Misery, who was staring blankly out into the Void. The goddess turned to him, tears running from her eyes like always. She looked away away once she saw who was talking to her, and Percy swore he could hear her huff in annoyance.
"Seriously? Are you actually still mad at me for some shit that isn't even my fault!?"
"It is your fault, you stupid child!" Akhyls hissed venomously, rounding on the demigod. "All you have to do is feel misery, but you cannot even do that! You are worthless to me!"
"Listen, bitch, you're just jealous 'cause I'm the jolliest mothafucka you've ever seen, but that's still not my fault. If anything, it's yours, since you can't affect me!"
"Oh, I can affect you just fine…" Akhyls muttered menacingly, then began to spew poisonous liquid from her mouth. It pooled on the ground, and started to steadily flow toward the son of Poseidon.
Percy took a step back, holding his arms up to defend against a nearly intangible threat. "Hey. Woah. Chill with the poison. I never said anything about poison."
"You said that I cannot affect you- I am simply proving you wrong," Akhyls replied smugly, stretching her self-mutilated face into a yellow-toothed smile.
"Yeah, I was talking about with misery! This and that are two different things!" he cried, backing up more from the slowly-approaching wave of venom.
"Die!" Akhyls roared, and the stream of poison launched off the ground. Percy shrieked in terror, launching himself backward, only to trip and fall on his ass. He curled into the fetal position, protecting his head with his arms.
After a long moment without pain, Percy looked up, and saw… Nothing. Everything had gone dark, and the man couldn't even see his hands, which he knew to be in front of his face.
"Oh shit… Am I blind!?" he wailed, panicking. At that moment, the dim red light of Tartarus returned, as the darkness surrounding him simply melted into shadows. Akhyls was in the same place as before, but she seemed fairly displeased. He looked to where she was glaring, out into the inky black of the Void, and could barely make out the equally black form of a massive, forty-foot-tall woman. She rode a black chariot, pulled by shadow horses. She wore black robes, and her skin was black, but dotted with stars and galaxies. Her eyes shone like muted supernovae, piercing Percy's very soul. Her long black hair flowed down her back, only visible because of how shiny it was, like polished metal.
"Oh. Nyx. Ignore that," the demigod said, climbing to his feet. "So, what's going on? How's the family?" Percy asked, trying to seem more casual than he actually was. He'd never admit it, but Nyx scared him. Both because she was a Primordial that could sneeze him out of existence, and because she had a bad habit of staring for too long before she spoke- one that he may have picked up.
"...I am well enough, Perseus, though I cannot speak for my children. They rarely speak to me anymore…" she responded, with a heavy sigh. Oh, right. She was also kind of depressed, and her mood tended to affect his, due to the strength of her emotions. "I see my husband has not claimed you yet…" she said offhandedly.
"Can we not talk about that?" Percy asked nervously, glancing around the rocky landscape of Tartarus anxiously.
"I suppose it can wait until later… Akhyls, my daughter, how have you been?" Nyx asked, seeing that the demigod's attention was elsewhere.
"Fine," the Misery Goddess replied bluntly, her single word clipped and harsh.
Nyx almost looked like she was going to cry, while Akhyls was crying. Then again, she always was, so it couldn't really be called crying… More like having leaky eyes.
Percy frowned, noticing the look on the Primordial's face, having stopped his examination of the surrounding lands. "Akhyls, don't talk to your mom like that," he told the Misery Goddess. It probably wouldn't work, but he had to try, at least. Nyx was as fragile as his own mother, Sally Jackson (whom he hadn't seen in years), and it made him uncomfortable to see her cry.
"Well, maybe I would be nicer if she hadn't abandoned me in this hellhole!"
Nyx broke down, shrinking so she was slightly smaller than Percy. He would have hugged her, if she hadn't been in her shadow chariot hovering over the Void. That was not a jump he felt confident making.
"Come on, you know that wasn't her fault! Tartarus was the only Primordial to have made a physical manifestation at that time- where else would she have put you? You can't survive in the Void!"
"But she didn't have to leave me here!" Akhyls shouted, chipped teeth gritted. "Erebus created the Underworld, Gaia and Pontus created the Earth, Ouranos created the Sky, and yet, here I am, still in Tartarus!" Akhyls roared, turning to her mother, who was hidden by the high walls of the shadow chariot. "Do you hear me, woman!? MIllions of years spent in so much misery that it became my domain! And it is all your fault!"
Nyx's sobs became loud, transforming into screaming wails, and Percy shuddered. He knew if this got any worse, she might accidentally destabilize and send out a wave of power that would wipe him from existence.
"How about I bring you somewhere else?" Percy blurted, then bit his tongue. For real, this time. His mouth filled with blood in seconds, which he quickly spat out, before his regeneration kicked in. Unfortunately, it was only the physical damage that was repaired.
Silence reigned in the Pit. There were no tortured screams of the damned, no bestial roars, no fires crackling, not even the cracking of the glass shards that layered the ground of Tartarus.
Akhyls turned to him slowly, watery eyes wide. "Would… Would you really?" she asked quietly, disbelievingly.
Percy swallowed heavily, loud enough that Nyx probably heard it all the way in her shadow chariot, which was a good hundred feet away, before slowly nodding. "On one condition, though!"
The Misery Goddess' eyes narrowed dangerously, causing the demigod to take a step back in fear. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for the probable explosion. "You have to be nice to your mother."
Akhyls was silent for a long time, and soon every single one of Percy's muscles hurt from being clenched extremely tightly in preparation to run like a bitch. She pursed her lips, and he very nearly hopped into a nearby shadow right that second. He managed to keep himself still, though it was a close thing.
"Can't I just ignore her?" Akhlys finally asked, and the son of Poseidon finally started to breathe again.
"Well… Just for now. But one day, I expect you two to act like an actual mother and daughter," Percy answered, praying to the Void below that she didn't find his proposition unsatisfactory and simply blast him. Despite the way he talked to her earlier, he still had a healthy amount of fear and respect for her immense power. She may not have been referred to as a Primordial, but she basically was one.
"...We'll see," was the response, and Percy relaxed all the way. "How would you get me out of here, anyways?" Akhyls asked.
Percy didn't say anything, instead slashing a hand through the sulfuric air, opening a rip in reality; a portal. The ability had been granted to him by the Fates, as if they knew the first thing he would do upon waking up would be to go to Tartarus. Then again, they probably did.
Akhyls crept closer, examining the tear. It lead to a random forest somewhere on Gaia, and the Goddess of Misery looked at it with fascination.
"What are those green things on the tree? And why are the trees brown? And what's that green stuff on the ground?"
Percy was stunned into silence, until Akhyls turned on him, and he rushed to answer. "Those things on trees are leaves, and the trees are brown because that's how they naturally are, and the green stuff on the ground is grass- it's pretty much the same thing as leaves."
"Woah…" Akhlys muttered, in awe.
"You… Don't know about that stuff?" Percy asked hesitantly. He didn't exactly want to accidentally offend the super-powerful deity, who could easily stomp one of the Titans, by somehow insulting her intelligence.
"No, I don't see any of it down here in Tartarus. It's all gray and red and dead," Akhyls said. "What's this thing, too?" she asked, gesturing to the opening in the fabric of space.
"It's a portal- if you walk through it, you get transported to the place it shows you."
Akhyls nodded her head in understanding, before stepping closer. Percy grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back a bit. "Not yet- I still have to talk to your mother, and I am not letting you wander Gaia by yourself."
Akhlys sneered at the mention of Nyx, but relented still. She walked back over to her boulder, sat down, and resumed staring out into her father's domain.
Percy sighed. His impulsive tongue had just created a lot of work for him, but there was no going back now. Not if he wanted to remain in existence, that is. He turned to the floating chariot, ignoring the shadow steeds which were staring at him. They weren't sentient, just simple constructs used to pull the Stygian Iron chariot.
"Nyx?" he called, hoping the Primordial hadn't gotten too deep in her crying that she wouldn't hear him.
She poked her head up over the side of the chariot. She had to grow a bit to do so, but she was still rather small, compared to her normal form. Those supernovae eyes were still as powerful as ever, but Percy refused to let it throw him off now.
"Can you come over here?"
The sniffling deity nodded, mentally commanding her shadow horses to bring the chariot closer. It settled on the glass sand of Tartarus silently, like a shadow in the night, which was to be expected. Percy walked over, climbing into the chariot and sat down next to the shrunken Primordial, who was now smaller than him- the size of a mortal kid.
"Hey," he murmured gently, drawing the child into a comforting hug, "You doing okay?"
A shake of her head was the answer, and the demigod squeezed her a bit. "Aw, don't mind Akhlys, she's just a little mad. She'll be fine soon, especially since I'm taking her to the mortal world."
Nyx's head snapped up, bright eyes wide in surprise. "What?" she squeaked, her voice also sounding like that of a child.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure she doesn't drive everything insane with misery. I might have to ask the Fates for something to suppress her powers, but they'll handle it. They kinda like me, so… Yeah. Trust me, it'll be fine."
Nyx stared at him for a long moment, as she tended to do, before nodding and snuggling into his chest. They sat like that for a long time, before Nyx finally sighed, and sat up.
"Why are you here, Perseus?"
"Uh… Oh, right! Remember last time I came here?"
"When you once more entered my Mansion without permission, got possessed by one of the demons, and nearly died? Yes, I remember it quite clearly."
Percy smiled nervously; Nyx sounded kind of mad. "Yeah, that. The demon, it's sort of… Been causing me problems."
"Such as?"
"It came to life."
Nyx exhaled heavily through her nostrils in exasperation. "Do you understand now why I keep those creatures locked up in my abode?"
"Of course! I understood it way back then, after I almost died. Just, not before, which is why we're having these issues," Percy replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
"Show me," the Primordial commanded, still managing to sound powerful despite having such a childish voice.
Percy called his bone-white mask into existence with the black flames, then tossed it in front of him. The formation happened much quicker this time, and within seconds, the clone stood in front of the sitting pair.
Horse crouched down in front of Nyx, staring at her with the sickly yellow eyes of the mask. Without warning, his hand reached up and whipped he mask off his face, and the demon yelled, "Peek-a-boo!"
Nyx, not expecting it, shrieked, and lashed out with her stubby leg. It collided with Horse's chest, and launched the demon into the opposite side of the chariot so hard, the entire thing rocked dangerously for a second, nearly flipping over, before settling heavily back onto the ground. Horse himself had been splattered across the Stygian Iron in an explosion of white skin and blue blood. Unfortunately, his face managed to stay intact, so his feral grin still stared out at Percy and Nyx.
Seconds later, the same white substance he was made of consumed the remains of Horse, and reformed him very quickly.
"What the fuck was that for, you little bitch!?" the demon shouted, no longer smiling.
Percy was about to yell back, when he suddenly froze. There was an intense amount of rage radiating off the small figure next to him, and he began to sweat furiously in panic.
"Ah, Nyx, calm down! That's just how he is, seriously- he's insane!" Percy cried, desperately waving his hands about. He turned to scowl at his clone. "And you- don't yell at her! Do you want to get obliterated, you retard!?"
He immediately turned back to fussing over the bite-sized Primordial, leaving Horse to grumble quietly to himself.
Finally, Nyx calmed down, and Percy was able to stop his constant rambling. He heaved a sigh of relief.
"I see what is going on, now," she said in her normal voice, with a sense of finality that Percy felt dread once more. "To save you from possession, I had to put the demon into a deep sleep-a trance, of sorts- and hide it away into the deepest recesses of your mind, to prevent it from ravishing your psyche more. The only way it could have woken is if your mind was in such turmoil that it began to shuffle about, bringing the demon close to the surface. Tell me, has anything of the such happened recently?"
Percy thought on it, and realized that, yes, something like that had indeed happened. "Yeah… Erebus sorta paid me a mental visit last week or so."
"That would do it," Nyx said grimly, "My husband was never one to be gentle. Ever so like his brother... Afterwards, did you find yourself unable to completely control your actions? More so than the other times your mask has caused you issues in the beginning, when you were still adjusting to using it?"
"Yeah… And my mask changed a bit, too. It grew a horn, but only one. It's never done that."
Nyx nodded, not seeming very surprised. "Yes, so it seems my husband's visit is what truly awaken the demon, and it immediately attempted to wrest control of your body from you. Fortunately, you have a strong mind, and the demon was also weak from the trance. The horn you mentioned- the physical form of the demon, before it possessed you, had horns. Did it look like this?" Nyx asked, forming the exact shape with shadows; the same jagged base, which led into a spike with an extremely sharp point.
"Yeah, just like that…" Percy muttered, leaning forward a bit.
"That means the demon was trying to reassume its true form, using your body as the base. As for how it ended up like that…" she said, gesturing at Horse, who was sitting on the opposite side of the chariot, "That would have happened eventually, as the demon gained strength. It copied your image, since it likely does not have the energy yet to form its previous body. The only reason it happened so quickly is because the air of Tartarus is like ambrosia for demons; it fills them with energy, allowing this one to reach the copy stage so soon after it awoken. Had you remained on Gaia's Earth, it would have taken… Perhaps a year? It differs slightly for each demon," Nyx finished. Percy simply stared down at her in awe.
"How did you know all that…?" he asked, amazed.
"I have experimented, of course. It simply would not do for me to be completely unknowledgeable about the beasts I contain within my Mansion. Imagine what would happen if they broke free, somehow." Nyx replied
"By the way, these demons… How are they created? I've only ever seen them in your Mansion, and I've explored a lot of places…"
"You know of the Field of Punishments, in my husband's realm?"
Percy nodded, and Nyx continued. "Well, sometimes, a soul is sent there that is simply too evil for the Underworld ruler to think up a proper punishment- evil enough, in fact, that their deeds are struck from mortal history, their names banished from existence. So, rather than settle for something less-than-adequate, they toss that vile soul down into Tartarus. The air here is filled with evil energies, which quickly corrupts these defenseless souls, who have no bodies nor sense of identity to prevent such a thing. They become those demons, and roam the Pit, accumulating strength by eating monsters. Since the monsters reform down here, there have an essentially unlimited amount of potential. A few have even become strong enough to challenge the Titans, but by that point I have heard of them, and intervened. They are dangerous, if left unchecked, but can thankfully not reproduce," Nyx finished, once more astounding Percy into silence.
"That's…" he began, but trailed off, unsure what else to say.
"Well, since I have answered your question, what will you do now?" she asked, and Percy caught the slight sadness in her tone. She was pretty lonely down here, confined to the Void to ensure none of the horrors trapped in the Mansion of Night ever escaped. None of her children visited, and Akhlys, who was the only one that lived nearby, hated her. Percy pitied the Primordial, which sounded odd, but made it no less true.
"Well… I don't really have anything to do up on Gaia, so I guess I could stay for a while. Maybe figure out how to deal with that demon bastard, while I'm at it…"
"Really!?" Nyx looked up at him with so much hope shining in her starry eyes that he almost had a heart attack. Added to the fact that she was currently the size of an eight-year-old, and he couldn't have refused if he wanted to.
"Of course."
Nyx squealed in glee, wrapping the man in a hug as well as she could with her short arms. Percy chuckled, returning the gesture.
His stay in Tartarus might be pretty enjoyable.
