Thalia
Whoever built this place certainly wasted most of their life doing it, through several corridors, libraries, altars and crypts we traveled carefully through the massive underground structure. The darkness was almost suffocating, sounds of whatever horrid creatures walked here echoed through the empty hallways. The disgusting stench of rotting flesh will always be seared into my nostrils, combined with the must of toxic mold and that's a scent that could knock even Polyphemus unconscious.
despite the rotting complexion of the catacombs some parts were oddly a glow with torchlight, meaning somebody has been through here recently.
Annabeth was looking through misplaced scrolls, always eager to learn something new; in this case anything about Sanctuary or the catacombs we are walking around in.
"You know this place is starting to give me serious Labyrinth vibes." Percy muttered "A bunch of dark tunnels with rooms filled with a bunch of monsters or more remains."
Nico and Annabeth visibly shivered at the mention of the old underground maze, I remember what they told us about it. Endless winding tunnels that seem to change shape and size with no logic or reason, Nico once mentioned it was the only other place he was disturbed by, aside from Tartarus of course.
We continued through the inky blackness, always on guard with only Percy's sword and Leo's blazing hand to guide us.
The next room we entered was smaller than the rest and littered with cobwebs, Annabeth refused to even enter when she saw all of them.
The room aside from webs the room was filled with racks of weapons and armor, most were rusty and cracked beyond repair, others looked brand new and shined with an unnatural glow,
Maybe some of them were enchanted.
"Holy Hades guys look." Leo was scrounging around in an old chest. What I did not expect was the chest filled to the brim with gold coins and various gems.
"We're rich guys!" Leo exclaimed. He immediately started pocketing as much gold and gems as he could in his toolbelt.
I was also a little excited that we have some more money to buy some useful things. I love my jacket and shirt but I can't keep wearing them over and over.
We all started searching the old armory for anything else of value, Though much of it was pretty useless from the looks of it. My eyes fell on an old bow hanging up in the corner, there was nothing really special at first glance, just an old wooden bow, like the kind they have at camp Half-Blood for archery classes. It's simple look didn't affect me when I took it off it's rack, I felt attracted to the weapon for some odd reason.
"Woah!" I was quite surprised when the wood was replaced by a golden varnish and wing-like appendages. It glowed with a faint gold aura as if it was blessed by Helios.
"That's one fancy bow you got there." Percy patted my back.
What happened next was so fast I didn't even register it, but I found Percy under me with my knife to his throat
"Holy gods above I just said it was a nice bow!"
My eyes gained focus again and I quickly got off of the shaken son of Poseidon "Oh gods I'm so sorry Percy I don't know what happened." I offered him a hand, which he hesitantly took hold of.
"I just heard your voice and felt your hand and my reflexes automatically kicked in" I took a moment to breathe, noticing how much more awake I felt in the moment, I could hear more, see more and even feel far more than what I thought was possible. I almost stumbled over myself, my senses were overloading me.
The bow. it was still gripped firmly in my hand, I let it drop to the floor and I felt my perception evaporate to a comfortable level.
Annabeth rushed over to me worriedly. "Are you alright Thals?"
I shook my head at the forming cobwebs in my mind. "What happened?"
"I think these pieces of junk are more powerful than they seem." I stared at the now elegant recurve resting beside me. Reluctantly I picked it up and slung it over my back, my senses heightened again but far less intense than the first time.
Kelp head was okay at least, he was not allowed to die yet and especially not by me.
"Again Percy I'm so sorry." He smiled and waved off the apology "It's not like we haven't done something similar to each other before."
I chuckled a little remembering all the little fights we got into.
glancing back at Percy I noticed something curious on his back. It looked like the hilt of a sword wrapped in leather, and a wolf with green eyes decorating the pommel. "Did you find a new toy as well?"
He smirked and unsheathed the sword from the scabbard. It was longer than riptide by a foot, and glowed an ethereal white. The blade seemed to be coated in a thick layer of frost and steam rolled off of it.
"Did it always look like that?"
He shook his head "It looked like one of the weapons in Porphyrion's hair, not until I touched it."
He held out the blade for me to get a good look at, I could feel the cold energy radiating off of it in waves.
"How does it feel?"
He weighed it in his hands getting a grip on the leather lined hilt "Mmmm only slightly heavier than Riptide." Percy sheathed the sword and carried on rummaging through chest and armor racks. Everyone else found some interesting weapons as well, Leo now had a large two-handed hammer strapped to his back, I was baffled at how he was able to even carry it. Annabeth had recovered a few daggers, all were odd shapes and carried strange yet similar auras to Percy's new sword. Jason now carried a fancy polearm, I wasn't exactly sure what it did but it radiated some powerful magic, it could definitely deal some serious damage in combat.
The hallways were growing dimmer with every new corner we rounded. How far could this old man go? Furthermore, how far down did these passages go? Everyone was starting to tire, I heard Piper yawn behind me.
"Maybe we should take a small breather guys," I heard Jason suggest, Leo and Percy immediately collapsed to their knees, "Oh thank Gods," everyone else followed suit apparently in silent agreement.
A small fire was lit in the middle of the room, barely scaring away the thick shadows that surrounded us. I decided to examine my new weapon more closely, whoever crafted it was definitely a genius, the wire was strung very tightly with some material that, probably native to this world. Flexible but very strong, it would probably be impossible to break unless someone cut it. Then there was the bow itself, the wood was carved like an eagle's wings, so beautiful; and powerful too, I could feel the energy buzzing within it, feeding into my own senses, like adding chocolate coated coffee grounds into nectar. However once I set the weapon aside I felt my energy sap away quickly. Okay I need to remind myself to take more naps if I keep using this thing. What better time than now I suppose.
In time I drifted off into Morpheus's realm.
"Greetings Daughter of lightning and wind." I jolted my eyes open only to be greeted with inky blackness. Oh gods damn it all another dream? Demigod dreams are the worst, they aren't necessarily dreams, more like visions and warnings about the future and crap like that. Almost always in a sort of nightmarish perspective.
"Where am I?" I called out to whatever voice that addressed me. "In the confines of your own mind my dear godling."
That voice… I have heard Titans and Gods speak before, Their words spoken with an aura of authority and respect.
This voice was definitely older than either deities, it sounded like someone gargling red hot coals and it spoke like a thousand voices speaking at once. It sounded straight up demonic.
"Who are you?" I asked defiantly reaching for my knife only to find it wasn't there
"You will meet my Avatars soon enough. For now I am far more interested in you Daughter of the sky."
The blackness shimmered into a familiar image. A living room of a moderately fancy house littered with cans of beer and bottles of alcohol.
"Buried deep in your core you carry a great burden of loathing for a great many things."
The scene shifted into an image of a boy with blonde hair and an ugly scar running down his beautiful face.
No…
I looked away from him, not wanting the memories to come rushing back.
Images malformed again into a man with a suit and a beard with electric blue eyes like my own.
"Stop it!" I shouted angrily. "Get out of my head!"
The voice rasped and scraped which almost sounded like laughter "Get used to it darling, for you have been chosen."
The images melted away back into darkness; I could feel myself waking up.
Waking up in a cold sweat is the worst sensation ever, though not as bad as waking up so quickly you give yourself whiplash. My luck today just happened to give me both results.
Breathing heavily my eyes focused on a group of people hovering over me.
All of them had a similar grim look of thought on their face. It almost saddened me that we were so used to this kind of stuff that we couldn't even muster another emotion other than stony looks of knowing. Demigod life just sucks all around.
"So what was the nightmare Pinecone Face." Percy ever so gracefully broke the ice first.
I stood up slightly shaking in my boots, "Well… I think I might have a vague idea of who sent us here."
That definitely got everyone's attention. "Please elaborate." Annabeth was among the more grateful to finally have some news on our problem.
Annabeth
At first I was very excited when Thalia had learned more about the being who sent us here, it was a massive let down though, all she could give us was a strange voice and some memories it showed her. I faltered when she mentioned Luke, that was always a hard thing to forget, if only I could have helped him more, I could have stopped him from becoming possessed if I just let him in. The fates are sadistic beasts, far worse than any monster I've faced.
"Well this doesn't help us we might as well know nothing." Jason pouted
Thalia rolled her eyes "Well it's not like I could ask for the voice's address."
He sighed running his hand through his hair "So we've got another powerful godly being who wants to kill us, I thought after - well you know who that we would be done with stuff like this."
Out of nowhere Percy started laughing, I mean really laughing to the point of hysteria, as if someone told him Hades drew unicorns in his spare time. Two minutes of solid laughter, at this point I was starting to get scared that he finally broke, but he took a deep breath and slowed his breathing still trying to stifle his relentless giggles. "If you thought we would be done with this crap you're drunk on nectar on nectar man, it was a miracle by The Fates that we had four years of peace in the first place.
Jason pursed his lips and nodded silently.
I looked back at Percy but he didn't meet my eyes, he wasn't smiling anymore or giggling like a little girl, all traces of optimism were replaced with steel cold anger, sharper than any blade. I could swear the ground trembled ever slightly under him. I tilted his head so he could meet my eyes. The hardness in his look softened, I laced my fingers into his hand and I could feel the tension drain away from him. I smiled pecking his lips just for an extra measure of comfort.
He sighed and got up from his spot, slinging his new sword over his back "I think break time is over guys."
Everyone else followed his lead, I sheathed my knives, briefly admiring the needle sharpness of each blade.
You know at this point I'm developing a small fear of the dark, it's just that everytime we voyage into some sort of long tunnel or room of blackness something bad likes to stab us in the back. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, yet I have a good reason for it.
The deeper we went the air was getting staler, yet the smell of death and decay was all the more strong, I knew something was wrong when the stench became suffocating. There must be a huge group of dead nearby.
Sometimes being a daughter of Athena isn't the best, like when you are right about something that you pray to all the gods isn't, yet the harsh reality wins every time. This is one of those times, because not two hundred feet away was the biggest group of zombies I have seen. I estimated about two hundred of them plus a couple I haven't seen before, they were very large and bulky, with marks all over that made them look like they were stitched together, by someone, I knew they would be a problem.
"So how do we get past all of them?" Leo interrupted my thoughts, "I know you're a daughter of Athena but even then we would get overwhelmed by all of them. "
My attention returned to the horde, my brain working on possible strategies.
"Well first we need to get rid of those big ones; Thalia, Jason and Percy you guys keep the large zombies occupied and make sure to keep moving, there may be a lot but they're all slow movers."
Percy uncapped Riptide and smiled, "You got it wise girl."
"Everyone else we are gonna take them by surprise, circle around the room and we'll hit them with everything we've got."
We started surrounding the room quietly, sticking to the shadows, apparently the zombies were extremely blind to slow movement, Percy, Jason and Thalia stayed near the door entrance waiting for the right time to strike.
I got a much better look at the bulky creatures, they reminded me of the villain from The Nightmare Before Christmas, Nico made us watch it for Christmas last year. He went through a phase where he was obsessed with that movie. These creatures were far more gruesome in every sense and the putrid scent seemed to be the strongest, drowning out any other scent able to reach my nose.
Pushing down the warm fluids rushing up to my mouth, I crouched waiting in the shadows, from across the room, Percy caught my eye, he looked at me waiting for me to give him the signal. I nodded confidently,
That's when all hades broke loose, a blast of cold air rushed into the room blowing any dust free creating a smoke screen. I lost partial awareness of my surroundings, only focusing on cutting down as many zombies as possible. The new knives on my person were definitely helpful, especially a particular red tinted blade that blew apart whatever came in contact with it. The downside to this was a thick coat of zombie blood and innards covering me, but I could hardly care at the moment.
When the dust settled once again I could see we decimated a large chunk of the horde with some stragglers remaining along with the grotesque monsters. Percy and Nico faced off against two of them, The son of Hades who had gained control of a small group of zombies charged towards the beast.
I rushed to help them, leaping onto the colossus, it roared and tried to buck me off, but I held tight ignoring the awful stench of decomposing flesh.
"Annabeth get off, it's got a set of-." I didn't hear what Nico shouted but I sure felt it when something sharp pierced my side. Retractable spikes, of course it has those, I'm so stupid. I immediately jumped off the monster, my head feeling dizzy from the blood loss, the creature whirled around gazing hungrily at my vulnerable state. It roared and charged at me, I braced myself lifting my dagger over my head to defend myself. If I go out I'm taking you with me.
But the monster did the opposite, it halted dead in its tracks with a singular spike sticking out.
No, not a spike, it was a blade of a sword. The hideous blob of meat gurgled and groaned expanding twice it size
"Oh please don't…" I choked out, but it wasn't gonna listen to my pleas, it exploded in a burst of black oily ooze and other slimy things I assumed to be guts.
They weren't guts though, large snake-like worms that slithered towards me immediately only to be sliced in half by Percy. He was covered in the black slime, the same as me.
"Oh my gods Annabeth you're bleeding really badly." He rushed over to me slinging my arm over his shoulder.
I could barely hear Percy screaming at Leo to bring the healing serum, the whole world was becoming dizzy, I could feel myself slipping into unconsciousness.
I barely registered a warm liquid substance running over my wound. It stung like tatarus for just a few seconds, then immediately became comfortable. I could feel a rush of energy jolting me back into reality, my eyes shot open and I gasped for air. "Wow that stuff really works fast." Leo exclaimed.
The gash had closed up almost immediately, until all that was left was an ugly scar.
I felt more alive than ever, like I could take on several Titans and Gaea at once, this must be what Percy felt like when healing himself.
Speak of the devil, he was still staring at me, his face laced with concern. "How are you feeling Wise Girl?"
I smiled at him "Better than I was two minutes ago." I wrapped my arms around him silently thanking him for saving me.
"Alright alright no more sappy crap, let's find this old man and get the hell out before we end up with an injury we can't recover from" No one argued with Leo on that fact.
We managed to continue on without any major incidents, the monsters we did encounter were few and far in between, and we certainly didn't counter any more of those Grotesque blobs with spikes.
Eventually the passages opened up into the largest room yet, it was cavernous, with dozens of tables littered throughout the floor, books strewn about haphazardly.
There was a large crater sitting next to where we came in. It glowed with a strange blue aura, it must have been the meteor that caused all this, I gazed into the open maw, I could see that the meteor had smashed through at least several more floors of the labyrinth, I couldn't even see the bottom of it.
"Guys wait, something's coming." We all paused, Nico pointed towards a darkened hallway on the other side of the crater.
We braced ourselves for whatever monstrosity this god forsaken place would spit at us. What surprised us even more was that an old man came running out of the hallway instead of a weird creature.
I was surprised he didn't collapse the moment he stopped, from the looks of it he was beyond winded. He was dressed in old robes, fried and tattered at the edges, they must have been through alot of mileage. His beard was ghost white, and his eyes were a weary grey with one glossed over with cataracts.
This must be Leah's uncle
I called out to him, "Deckard Cain is it?"
"Foul minions!" He shouted towards the hallway "Let this man go."
Four gruesome looking skeletons emerged from the door, chattering and laughing at the man, I wasn't quite sure how they were laughing, but I shouldn't question these things.
All of sudden the room trembled violently as if a volcano erupted spontaneously under us. We all fell to our feet, disoriented from the quakes. One quarter of the ceiling caved in near the crater smashing the skeletons into pieces before their remains dropped into the abyss.
The air became heavy and stale with the stench of a hundred year old mold and rotting bones.
Somewhere near me I could hear Nico shout in alarm. "What is that?"
I looked up to find a massive apparition floating above the crater. It was seven feet tall with rags that looked to be former clothing for royalty, a broken crown laid crooked on top of his head and his face bore a ghoulish smile.
"The Skeleton King."
The Phantasm opened its mouth and spoke, the sound of his raspy broken voice echoed throughout the chamber
"The Power of the fallen star awakened me, and soon all will suffer, as I have suffered. Guards bring me his bones."
Swirls of teal mist surrounded Deckard shaping into skeletons with swords and armor, surrounding the old man. With a blood curdling laugh the specter disappeared into the wall behind him.
We wasted no time in jumping in and defending the old man. I unsheathed my daggers and flung them into one of the living bones' heads, skewering the eye sockets, It collapsed and disintegrated into dust.
"Get behind us Cain." brandishing my Drakon Bone sword I engaged the bags of bones slaughtering them one by one.
But the monsters kept coming, teal mist swirling and materializing wave after wave.
"Alright you know fuck this." Nico tossed his sword away and reached out towards the husks.
All of them froze mid-attack and collapsed into piles of bones. Sometimes I feel like I don't appreciate Nico enough.
Assuming the battle was over I went over to help Deckard Cain up. "It's okay Cain we are here to help you out of this godforsaken place."
He nodded gratefully, but the look of gratitude quickly malformed into one of uneasiness.
"What are you?" I frowned in confusion at him "Excuse me?"
He narrowed his eyes and they darted towards the rest of us "The blood of shadow and light flows nowhere within you all."
I looked back to my friends, all of them wore a baffled expression at what this man was spewing.
The blood of shadow and light, what does that mean? Questions started to flood my mind, questions about how much this man knew or what he suspected, the thought of him figuring out what we are was not settling at all; if anything it would probably destroy any chance of returning home.
"Look i'd love to continue this discussion, but right now I'm getting tired of this musty place." Percy complained.
Cain still looked wary of us but his expression softened. "I thank you strangers for rescuing me, I would not have made it out of here if it weren't for you."
Thalia smiled "You're welcome, But you should thank your niece, she sent us."
Deckard halted in his tracks, his face bore an expression of hope "Leah is safe?"
Thalia nodded
The old man's shoulders slumped with relief, his eyes growing foggy. "Thank the angels she is well, I feared the worst."
"Come let us leave this somber maze."
The elder walked over to a bookshelf nearby and pulled one of the books halfway off the shelf; It slid open to reveal a set of small stairs. I almost laughed at how cliche it was, a secret passage behind a bookshelf.
Nico
I have never felt fear of the dead in my life, which should be expected from the son of the literal god of death, in fact I spend more of my time with ghosts than the living. So what I felt back in catacombs came as a shock when the giant apparition of a skeleton appeared, whatever happened to his spirit, changed him into a broken demon in his afterlife. Something else was pulling his strings, I can't be sure what, but I did know that it felt like fear, fear in its purest form. Something awful happened to this town, and I don't want anywhere else to suffer the same fate.
Leah was overjoyed seeing her uncle again, hugging him and profusely thanking each one of us personally. I was never used to people showing me appreciation, much less acknowledgement, that's okay I didn't need it, I am a son of Hades, cursed to always be in the background. Though I'll admit that it was… nice I guess to not be treated like a shadow on the wall.
Annabeth, always the strategist and knowledge seeker, wanted to get down to business quickly. "Leah has told us about how much knowledge you possess, what can you tell us about this… fallen star?"
The old man grimaced, his eyes showed knowing fear as if he had seen all this happen before.
"Not much I'm afraid, though the prophecy of the end days surely points to it as a sign that the end has begun."
Well that was vague, and I thought the Oracle of Delphi was cryptic.
"Please Uncle, not more of your stories." Leah dismissed "All that matters now is that your back."
I decided to be bold and ask him a question of my own. "Well if the meteor is too mysterious to answer then can you please explain the giant ghost in the crypt?"
"Ahhhh King Leoric, now known as the skeleton king, was driven mad by Diablo's evil."
Diablo. Devil.
"He lost his sons to him and his very soul, before he was defeated, now he has returned to choke this land once again."
Percy's face became steely and determined. "That's not gonna happen while we are here, can we help? A silent agreement was settled, however I was a little reluctant, this Skeleton king was… Powerful, I felt it vibrating down my spine.
"His old crown is the key to defeating him, you need to find our Blacksmith Haedrig Aeomon he knows of its whereabouts."
AN: Sorry about the delay life has been really busy lately. I'm also lazy.