CHAPTER V

It was like walking through molasses, with each step he could feel a domain slowly being ripped from his very being. He had to suppress a scream of pain with every step he struggled to take, his body felt like it was being crushed, set on fire, electrified and stabbed all at the same time. His conviction was the only thing that kept it going, the thought of seeing his mother, his best friend and his girlfriend made him surge forward when the pain became unbearable. He felt the power he had taken drain from him one by one. He felt the connection to each of the domains severed like a cut cord as if he was losing a part of himself, which he truly was.

Perseus had been walking for what felt like hours, each step a more gruelling task than the last. The dark blue of the vortex swirled around him and stretched forward for what seemed like miles. For a fearful second, he wondered if it was all a trick by Chaos and this was an eternal punishment of a cosmic scale for his actions. But just as suddenly as that thought danced through his mind he could see a bright light up ahead and quickened his pace, unable to suppress the scream of pain building up in his throat. He pushed against the white boundary of the end of the Vortex and felt himself losing consciousness as he slowly slipped into the new world.

Perseus woke up groggily to the bustling sounds of New York City in full swing, and to a beautiful blue sky. He smiled warmly as he stretched his muscles against the hot gravel of the top of the building he was laying on, enjoying the bright yellow sun beating down on him. His moment of peace was cut short by a startled yelp.

"Hey pal, I don't know what you're doing up here or how you got through security but beat it before I call the cops!" a short burly man shouted at him from the other side of the roof, waving his sandwich menacingly. Perseus just smiled at the man, Chaos he had missed other people. As he slowly took in his surroundings, the smell finally hit him. Even all the way up on what had to have been the 50th floor of a skyscraper, he could smell and practically taste the aroma of food that wafted across his city, and that's when his stomach started rumbling. Perseus looked down at his body in alarm, he hadn't had to eat since… no it couldn't be. He whipped out Riptide from his pocket, uncapping it in one swift movement drawing a scared shout from the man who raced down the flight of stairs he had come up on. Perseus proceeded to slightly slash his palm and flinched when he saw the red blood that poured out of the wound.

"Oh fuck," he willed the blood to heal and nearly dropped to his knees from the effort that took. "Oh fuck," he repeated breathing heavily as he felt dizziness taking hold. Perseus staggered towards the edge of the roof and sat down, overlooking New York City in all its glory and let out a sigh "It's good to be back," he said with a pained smile and wiped the cold sweat that had formed on his forehead. Looking down at the people going about their lives and sweeping his gaze across the city though caused his smile to falter as he looked up at the hulking mass that was Olympus, sat on the top half of a mountain floating a mile or so above the Empire State Building just like it had back in his world. As he scowled at the City of the Gods his stomach growled in protest once more. Perseus was going to have to get used to his old mortal needs once more. His eyes roamed up and down the streets of the city wondering if that pizza place he and Thalia loved was on the same street or even existed in this world, he suddenly remembered the sandwich the little round man had dropped when he pulled out Riptide. Turning around and looking at the stairwell he noticed that the man hadn't even unwrapped his Subway sandwich and dropped his bottle of water as well, jackpot.

He thought over his next plan of action as he munched on the tuna sub. Taking a swig of his water, he smiled softly at the feeling of the light gust of wind that tousled his hair. He was worried about how taxing something so simple as healing himself with his own blood was, but he took comfort in the fact that he could even do that still. He wondered just how many of his domains he still had, if any. As he gulped down the last of his sandwich he couldn't help but side eye Olympus, Chaos' words echoing in his mind to 'Show respect' Perseus scoffed at that, only if they earn it and don't try to smite me immediately he thought darkly. He remembered something else Chaos had told him, to head towards Long Island as soon as he could, but that had to wait, he had to visit his mom first.

Perseus peered over the edge once more, planning out how he'd get off this building. It was well over 50 stories tall and he didn't particularly feel like taking the stairs. Taking in his surroundings, he noticed how the building had a medium sized water tank on the other side of the roof behind the stairwell and couldn't help the grin that split his face. "Styx this better work," he muttered as he stood on the very edge of the building facing a small park. He called out for the water in the tank and felt a slight pull in his stomach, it was gonna take some time to get used to that again. The top of the tank exploded as the water rushed eagerly towards him, "oh SHI-" his shout was cut off as the water completely overtook him and knocked him right off the edge.

A/N: Aaaand heres five! Just a bit above 1k, i gotta stop with these cliffhangers im too obsessed with how well they end my chapters. As always feel free to ask any questions or comments, and please review! Warms my heart to read what yall have to say.

Take it easy out there folks :)