Chapter 4: The titan of Mortality:
I thought I was hallucinating. It just wasn't possible that a huge silvery figure could drop
out of the sky and stomp Kelli flat, trampling her into a mound of monster dust. But that's exactly what happened. The Titan was ten feet tall, with wild silver Einstein hair, pure silver eyes and muscular arms protruding from a ripped-up blue janitor's uniform. In his hand was a massive push broom. His name tag, incredibly, read BOB.
'SWEEP!"The Titan grinned with delight and did a victory dance."Sweep, sweep, sweep!'
Percy couldn't speak. He couldn't bring himself to believe that something good had actually happened. I'm sure I just stood there looking shocked, before finally speaking
"H-how ...?" I stammered.
"Percy you called me" the janitor said happily. "Yes, you did." The janitor frowned when he noticed my wounds. "Owie." He said before they closed up and vanished, I remembered after I had blasted him with the Lethe water he had healed a rather nasty wound on my shoulder. I got up and ran forward hugging him.
"Bob, I missed, I'm so glad that I have a friend down here." He seemed surprised but put his arms around me non the less.
"I missed you too friend, I enjoy helping my friends. I heard my name, upstairs in Hades's palace, nobody calls for Bob unless there is a mess. Bob, sweep up these bones. Bob, mop up these tortured souls. Bob, a zombie exploded in the dining room. I got excited."
I was shocked that bob had jumped into Tartarus just because he heard me say his name, but I was glad non the less to have an ally. The journey ahead of me was going to be one filled with pain and suffering, and now I had someone to lean on, after all I couldn't just survive on pure determination.
"Friend follow me I know where to go" I followed Bob off into the wasteland, tracing the route of the Phlegethon as they approached the storm front of darkness. Every so often they stopped to drink firewater, which kept them alive, but I wasn't happy about it. God my throat felt like I'd been constantly gargling battery acid. My only comfort was the thought of getting back to Annabeth, and the titan walking in front of me.
I felt bad for not visiting bod sooner, but with being abducted by a crazy goddess he had forgotten everything including the gentle Titan. He was snaped out of his guilty thinking when Bob picked their pace across the ashen wasteland, red lightning flashed overhead in the poisonous clouds. Just another lovely day in the dungeon of creation. He knew that eventually he would have to tell bob about Iapetus, it was inevitable and Percy couldn't contain the shame forever, he had tricked Iapetus into becoming Bob. He silently wondered if, when I awoke if someone had told him that he was steeve a servant of Gaia would I have believed them, would he help his enemies. Now that I understood the pain of losing my memories I didn't know if what I did was right, sure he was a titan who tried to kill me, but how many monsters, and titans had I killed in the defense of Olympus.
"We are here," bob said beginning to climb a small hill, on the otherside is saw something that surprised me yet again, in a sheltered depression like a moon crater, stood a ring of broken black marble columns surrounding a dark stone altar. "Hermes's shrine," Bob explained.
"why is there a shrine to Hermes in Tartarus" I asked,
"It fell from somewhere long ago, maybe the mortal world, maybe Olympus" he explained, "But monsters steer clear of here… Mostly. Food will be here soon you should rest." As soon as he mentioned food my stomach gurgled and complained, "what do you mean" I asked,
"you need to rest I will explain when our meal is here" however I figured that now was my only chance to tell bob the truth, but before I could he leaned forward and touched my head muttering "Sleep" my eyelids became heave and my body betrayed me, everything faded to black.
Demigod dreams are always bad, but int Tartarus they were a hundred if not a thousand times more vivid. First I say my mom, she was trying to calm one of Gabe's drunken rages, and he lashed out slapping her across the face, her head turned to the side, a look of shock and furry on her face. She stayed looking directly at me but when she spoke it wasn't her voice, but that of Gaia's,
"Little hero, you will perish in the domain of my beloved, your camp will be destroyed, your mother, girlfriend, friends, anyone you hold dear will die and it will be all your fault." The scene changed, showing be the valley that used to be camp half blood. The cabins were all burned to the ground, the big house was nothing but a few charred beams on the ground, dead bodies littered the ground, I could smell blood and burning flesh in the air. The message was clear, Gaia would destroy everything he loved.
I jolted upright terrified, but awake. Bob looks startled but recovered quickly, "Friend do you want food" he asked offering me two slices of peperoni pizza and a pack of M&M's he however was eating the rest of a hot dog, some grapes, a plate of roast beef, at the sight of the food I pounced, practically inhaling both slices before I remembered that I needed to breathe. In the end me and bob split the M&M's which he seemed happy about, I wondered if this food came from camp half-blood, I knew that Connor always burned a pack for his dad, and I knew at least a dozen people who ate pizza religiously. Just the thoughts made me extremely homesick.
"We need to keep moving friend they will be here in a few minutes" bob said all to calmly
"A few minutes why did we stop for this long." I asked,
"Mortals need rest and food, I'm not sure how but I could sense that you were starving and exhausted" bob said, I guess that made sense bob was the Titan of Mortality. I peaked over the rim of our hid out but saw nothing, then again that didn't mean much.
"Bob you said someone is hunting me, who is it."
"They are following, yes. They know you are here. Giants and Titans. The defeated ones. They know." Bob said, the first thing I thought after hearing that was"Oh Shit"how many monsters had I killed in the last four years, how many immortals alone had he faced. That wasn't even considering other monsters like Geryon, the Nemean Lion, Procrustes the Minotaur, I even wondered if that gigantic crab was somewhere down here scuttling after me. The thought almost made me laugh…Almost
"how are we going to make it to the doors of death bob" I asked seriously, I knew they were being guarded by a army of monsters so large that it would dwarf all the monster I had ever fought.
"Into the Dark Lands. The Doors of Death ... hmm, walking straight to them would be bad. Too many monsters gathered there. Even Bob could not sweep that many. They would kill Percy and Annabeth in about two seconds."The Titan frowned."I think seconds. Time is hard in Tartarus.'
"Right," I nodded. "So is there another way?"
"Hiding," said Bob. "The Death Mist could hide you."
"Oh ..." I suddenly felt very small in the shadow of the Titan. "Uh, what is Death Mist?"
"It is dangerous,"Bob said."But if the lady will give you Death Mist it might hide you. If we can avoid Night. The lady is very close to Night. That is bad."
"The lady," I asked.
"Yes." Bob pointed ahead of them into the inky blackness. "We should go."
As we walked I continued to ask Bob about the death mist and this mysterious lady. He told me that the death mist would be able to hide me in plain sight. Then I said something that had been on mymind sense me and bob were reunited
"Bob we need a plan to get through the doors of death, that's not something I think we should wing" I said seriousness laced into my voice.
Bob replied with "you are right friend, but first you need to know how the doors work. They are a shortcut of sorts for Thanatos to bring souls into the underworld and then leave, but Gaia's forces have chained them to keep Thanatos from calling them, every time there used they teleport to a new location but since their chained the cannot disappear. But there is a catch, to make the doors work someone must stay behind and hold the button for twelve minutes, if you let go the journey will not be completed." He paused before continuing "There is a slim chance that you will be able to cut the chains and then sneak into the doors behind me, I am a titan they might let me return"
"that's a good plan, but we should have a backup just in case. If things go wrong." I waited for a minute stealing my nerves for what was to come
"Friend you do not belong here, I must get you back to the mortal world to defeat Gaia."
"I will not leave you here, that is final, it has to be both of us." I said sharply. I had made it clear that the conversation was over.
They had made it to the storm of inky darkness a few miles back, after walking several miles though my feet started to feel like Titan mush, the harsh landscape of was inhospitable, Rocks loomed out of nowhere. Pits appeared at their feet, and I barely avoided falling in. Monstrous roars echoed in the gloom, but I couldn't tell where they came from. All I could be certain of was that the terrain was still sloping down.
Down seemed to be the only direction allowed in Tartarus. If I had to backtrack even a step, my limbs felt tired and heavy, as if gravity were increasing to discourage me from retreating. Assuming that the entire pit was the body of Tartarus, I had a nasty feeling they were marching straight down his throat.
PHFFHFHFFHVV, the ground started to shake like an earthquake, Bob and I made eye contact and we both brought out our weapons closing in on where the sound was coming from. We scooted around a large boulder before I signaled to bob with my hands On the count of three. We leapt around the rock and I yelled,
"WAIT,"
Bobs broom spear hovered about an inch away from the head of a tiny calico Kitten "Mrow" the cat said clearly unimpressed with our plan of attack. The little orange and brown fuzzball, waltzed over to Bob and began to rub up against his boots, it seemed impossible, but the deep rumbling sound seemed to be coming from the cat sitting in front of me. Bob bent down and scooped up the little guy, it was very cute to see a ten-foot-tall immortal being holding a cat so small that it fit in his palm. However the decided that bobs shoulder looked more comfortable, so he scrambled up the side of his arm before circling himself and laying down with his eyes closed,
"Wow someone likes you bob," I said slyly.
"He must be a good monster, there is always one, Titans, Gigantes, there is always one." Bob replied I was gonna protest that giants are not good but I decided it was for the best to just leave it be "I will call him small bob, and he will be my cat," At that small bob started to purr again. And with that we continued to march deeper and deeper into the pit.