Chapter 8: The Darkness Overcomes
Percy's Pov:
As I stood there paralyzed by the death mist, Akhlys put her hands on either side of my head. When she took her hands away, I began to see visions, the lasted only an instant but what I saw broke me.
I couldn't move, I was stuck fast in the corner of a cabin on the Argo II, it was definitely the Jason's room, and the sight before was horrendous, Annabeth my girlfriend, the one who id given up everything, the one who id fallen into this retched pit for, having sex with one of my closest friends. Jason and Annabeth's lips were locked, and they were both panting heavily, sweat pouring down their faces and chests.
Annabeth moaned Jason's name and I saw red, the only thing I could do was watch on in horror, I could literally feel my heart clench in pain. Every single one of my molecules seemed to burn.
Akhlys was forcing me to watch the whole thing, Akhlys, she had to have manufactured this vision, there's no way Annabeth would ever do that to me. as fast as it started it ended, I was back in Tartarus, Akhlys was standing in front of me with a smug expression.
Everything I saw was tinted a bloody hue, and that smile she had on her face only fueled the burning fire in my gut, with reckless abandon I leapt forward and punched the goddess in the face, she flew back a few feet before landing in a crumpled heap. For a minute I though I would be okay, then she got back up and her nails grew into talon. She snarled at me.
"What's wrong demigod, can't stand the fact that your girlfriend is with another man, as you fight for your life." That was it, I unsheathed my new Drakon bone swords and charged at her, I swung and slashed, dodged, and weaved. But it was futile, I was fighting a goddess bord of the eldest ones, Chaos and Nyx.
Suddenly all around her poisonous plants began to sprout around us, Neon Liquids began to leak out of then sizzling on the ground.
"You will experience the death of a thousand poisons, your body will be burned away by my acid." Somehow, I had ended up with my back against the infinite drop off, but the poison just kept coming, forcing me back step by step. A lake of toxins rushed towards me, the fumes burned my nostrils making me light headed. But I could not back up any further the poisonous ichor had surrounded me, and I was stuck on an island no bigger than a shield. I fell to one knee wishing there was a pool of plain old normal water I could jump in and heal himself, or a river he could manipulate to defend himself.
"I will feed on your misery mortal; you will die in the arms of night!" Akhlys said. The white-green poison kept pooling, little streams trickling from the plants as the venomous lake around me got wider and wider.
Lake, he thought. Streams. Water.
It was probably just his brain getting fried from poison fumes, but I managed to croak out a laugh. Poison was liquid. If it moved like water, it must be partially water. He remembered some science lecture about the human body being mostly water. He remembered extracting water from Jason's lungs back in Rome... If he could control that, then why not other liquids?
It was a crazy idea. Poseidon was the god of the sea, not of every liquid everywhere.
Then again, Tartarus had its own rules. Fire was drinkable. The ground was the body of a dark god. The air was acid, and demigods could be turned into smoky corpses.
I focused on the vast sea of vivid yellow, purple, green and pinks, and forced them back, this was different from when I fell into the Cocytus, because this time I would not, could not accept no for an answer. Slowly but surely the advancing tide reversed, metaphorically and physically. For the first time fear flashed in goddess of poison's eyes as her own domain closed in on her. As he focused on all the poison, another source of liquid appeared on my radar.
"Akhlys, I'm going to ask you only once, and if I get the impression that you are lying to me, I will show you true misery, pathetic goddess." I growled,
"What was the point of that vision, why lie to me in such a heinous way, you had to have known that it would infuriate me." she laughed a cruel and humorless laugh before replying, the poisonous pool already reaching her legs and sizzling. Tears began to pool in her eyes before spilling out,
"I do not lie mortal, and the purpose of course is to make you miserable as all heroes should be." She coughed out, I couldn't contain my anger the second time, in a blind fit of fury I focused on her tears, forcing them to clog her nostrils and throat, her coughing redoubled. My concentration focused again on her body, I could feel every muscle, every fain, every drop of Ichor.
I had never felt so powerful, and as I forced the goddess to the ground she screamed, acid burning her flesh, her own blood crushing her bones, something deep inside me cracked and shattered like glass, the pain in my stomach intensified as the Akhlys began to cough up her own godly blood,
"I will kill you; I don't care if your immortal, you are gonna feel the pain I feel." I began to walk closer to her, the poison moving to leave dry patches under my feet, when I was three feet from Akhlys I stopped, watching her writhe in the poison she had summoned, chocking on her own tears and blood.
Then she choked out one more sentence "I swear to Nyx..." she hacked "I have shown you the truth, I knew it would make you truly miserable." I stopped. An oath like that would not be made lightly. In that moment all my rage was redirected, from Akhlys to Annabeth, how and why would she ever do this to me. ever since we started dating, I had given and given. I wasn't happy, and if I wasn't with her how could I ever be.
I fell on my ass, the poisonous concoction evaporated and the goddess next to me began breathing to breathe more easily. I felt so hopelessly broken.
I have no idea how long I sat there, like I've said time here is different, it reminded me of calypsos island.
I was forced to turn my head when I heard a new voice behind me.
"Quite a display of darkness there young godling." I slowly turned my head to see another deity, she was clearly a goddess. About fifteen feet tall with black skin, but not like a human, it seemed to suck whatever light came into close proximity with it. Her face was absolutely stunning, but I had no doubt that she would be a terrifying enemy, she also wore a dress that seemed to be made of pure darkness, star glittered on it and I figured it showed the cosmos themselves.
"If you want my death, make it quick." I said, every ounce of self-preservation had already left me,
"Daughter leave," the mystery women said, Akhlys seemed to know better than to disobey, so she looked at me once more in fear and possibly shame before vanishing, she seemed to fold like a piece of paper until her form was gone.
"I have watched you ever sense you fell into my brother's domain; you have fought long and hard to get here, but it seems my daughter has broken you." I had begun to connect the dots as to who was in front of me, Sister of Tartarus, and mother of Akhlys, which meant in front of stood Nyx; the primordial manifestation of darkness and the night, she was possibly one of the first protogenoi born straight of Chaos.
"Nyx, I presume, what do you want." I said, I knew it was reckless to be rude to a primeval force but no matter, in my grief I couldn't care less.
"I have come to help you, I know of your war and who your enemy is, if she wakes it will mean total annihilation. I assume by now you know that gods can have different aspects." I nodded in acknowledgement and she continued, "Well the same is said for my kind, the primordial gods, we also have two different aspects, one of light, and one of darkness. The darkness is taking over her conciseness, as the goddess of such, I can sense it"
"that doesn't explain what you need me for," I said, "I only want to get out of here with the ones who have helped me." The goddess looked at me,
"I want you to purge the darkness from Gaia's mind, if you can do that, then she will once again be content to return to her to her slumber. The darkness inside of her burns for revenge against the gods, and the mortals, over the many millennium the earth, her domain has been dying, you must convince your gods to do something about it. Most of my kin are either no longer conscious, and have began to fade. You have no idea what it would mean for the world should the physical embodiments of reality fade."
"What can I do to stop nearly eight millions mortals from destroying the world, when was the last time you left this pit, the world is a different place now, people are driven by greed and lust."
"If you can summon the each primordial, Pontus, Gaia, and Ouranos, then they might be able to mend there respective domains. As far as I know most of them have hidden themselves away to slumber, Pontus would be deep in the ocean, isolated from the other sea gods, I would search the challenger deep. You already know where Gaia is. But your biggest challenge is Ouranos, as im sure you know his wife and son cut him to pieces, scattering his essence to the four corners of the earth to find him I will need to consult my father."
"Very well but how will I get out of this pit, there are monsters every where and I don't think that I would be able to fight through them all, even with the assistance of Bob." I commented
"TARTARUS GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE, I KNOW CAN HEAR ME." Nyx shouted, it took a minute but shortly after a mass of energy began to gather around us, when the sulfurous air cleared, a large man stood in front of me, his skin was a patchwork of several colors including, red, purple, black, and other colors percy had never even seen before, he adorned a neat black suit and had spiky blackish grey hair. The man in front of me radiated power in the same way Nyx did. When he spoke, his voice was deep and melodious, with every word uttered the ground around me seemed to rumble slightly
"Sister what a pleasant surprise, why have you summoned me," It took me a minute but I quickly realized this was Tartarus, as in the Deity of the pit I was trapped in, my brain bugged for a minute before refocusing.
"You know that favor I've been saving, I wish to cash it in, help him return to the mortal world," Nyx said, pointing at me. It seemed at last the god had noticed me, "AHH Perseus Jackson, from time to time I have checked in on your progress, and I must say I am impressed, that darkness in you is strong." I felt ashamed of what I had done in my rage and this god in particular wasn't helping.
"It is normal to feel that shame Perseus, but the only difference between an atrocity and a fight for survival is the circumstances, it may not help, but I believe the restraint you showed is an even greater power than what inflicted upon Akhlys." The god looked intently at me in the brief moments he spoke to me, before turning to his sister again.
I zoned out for a bit while I thought, Tartarus truly seemed like he wanted to help me feel better, I guess he might be a little like hades, misunderstood and feared because of the domain he represented, its not like he chose to embody this hellish landscape, he just did.
"Perseus…"
"What sorry, I kind of zoned out," they looked a little miffed, but Nyx continued,
"We were saying that there is two things you will need to do to get out of here, even we cannot go against Gaia directly, our father Chaos has set forth specific boundaries and even we Primordial's dare not cross him," they both shivered slightly and Tartarus took over for her,
"In order to return to the mortal world, you must make it to the doors of death, they are located at my heart, but be warned they are very well guarded, armies the likes of you have never seen. After that, free the doors, then call to me, and I just might be able to help you farther." He paused as if debating something then spoke again, "You will need this to escape the pit." He took both his hands and rubbed them together as if generating a static charge before placing either hand on my shoulders, my eyes snapped shut and instantly I felt like electricity was filling my body, like I was holding all the charge of a lightning bolt, I felt so powerful but it was like one wrong move could kill me. Then Tartarus removed his hands, the feeling if imminent death leaving me with a sensation of power.
My eyes fluttered and then opened, I almost had a heart attack, for the first time I was seeing Tartarus as it really was, The air was the breath of Tartarus. All these monsters were just blood cells circulating through his body, everything Percy saw was a dream in the mind of the dark god of the pit.
The God was looking at me skeptically, as if wondering if he had broken a toy he was rather fond of, then as if reading my thoughts he explained,
"Yes Perseus you see the truth now don't you, it is part of my blessing Grace, and as such it will enhance the darkness with in you, it has to, for if it were not this way you would never make it to through the doors alive, sister I recommend you do the same before he leaves your house." With that dark god melted into the dark stone at his feet and was gone.
"What, what the hell is a grace, and why did he give me his." I shouted in frustration, unsurprisingly it was Nyx who responded.
"The diving Grace is what you would call a sort of blessing, it is the gift of power from a primordial, However each is slightly different, and he was right, if not for it you would die before you reach the mortal world. I have worse news for you though, even with every gift my brother and I will have given you, you will need to use the darkness inside of you to win, but be careful, don't let it consume you."
"I need to return, I must make it back to my friends, there are still those I wish to protect, but manipulating ichor or blood, that's despicable, are you sure there isn't any other way to survive, I know that's in me, but I don't know if I have that in me."
"The world needs you to be capable of such things, otherwise your voyage is already doomed. I will lead you through my house, but heed my warning, should you open your eyes and bear witness to what is inside, then you will be in no state to save the world, your sanity will crumble and you will be locked away in your own brain. Now get on my chariot." As soon as she had said as such, a black chariot appeared in front of her, two massive mustang horses leashed in front. The body of the chariot was made of what I presumed was Stigion Iron, the same as Nico's sword.
When I approached the horses nickered and I saw they had fangs rather than normal teeth,
"Hush shade, shadow you too." Ha, the goddess of night has horses named shadow and shade, now that's funny. I refocusd onto the goddess infront of me and borded.
As the chariot began to race towards the edge of chaos,
"OOHhh Shhit, turn Nyx, turn," we raced of the side hurtling into oblivion, as we fell I could feel the essence of the void, trying to dissolve me, and just when I thought it was about to succeed we stopped falling and began to fly off into the darkness.