Alex, who was now somehow standing, stared down at the glinting metal protruding into his stomach, nestled just below his diaphragm. His hands shook at his sides as cold adrenaline shot through his veins.
"Alex!" Peter's scream sounded far away.
Alex forced his chin up. His friends appeared as blurred fragments in the distance. They stood on rocky terrain while Alex could still feel grass against his feet. Sabrina held a screaming Peter by the waist with a pained grimace on her face. She mouthed words to him that he couldn't understand.
A prominent figure materialized behind them. The being stood impossibly tall, towering over the demigods and casting them in an ominous shadow. They wore black armor with a brilliant diamond settled in the breastplate. Their face was obscured by a helmet that extended in a tooth-filled snout with the lips pulled up in a menacing snarl.
"I hope your friends are better skilled in combat than you are," the blonde teenager said in Alex's ear.
Alex couldn't remove his eyes from his friends. Sabrina noticed the figure first and threw up a blue wall of magic between them. The being had no trouble slicing through the wall with his massive glowing sword.
"Don't hurt them," Alex whispered, too afraid to speak any louder.
"That's up to you, I'm afraid." The teenager pushed the sword in further, causing Alex to whimper.
"Aren't you wondering why I'm here?" His cold breath carried the stench of sulfur.
When Alex only shuddered, the stranger continued. "I've been watching you for a while, Alexander. I sensed your power from the moment you were born. A half-human born of primordial blood, well, we all felt it. Hades sending his most powerful son there to watch over you only proved it.
"Once the demigods freed me from my prison, I tasked Morpheus with sending you dreams. Dreams that his son would very easily pick up on once Edmund whisked you away to camp. If you survived your encounter with Ceuthonymus, that is." He chuckled, a menacing sound that reverberated like a growl.
Alex watched in horror as a familiar skeletal shape came into view. Its grey skin was more apparent in the firelight of the Underworld, the color of stale pork. Just seeing it made what was left of Alex's stomach turn.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Peter fall to the ground under the sword of the much larger attacker. Sabrina's electric blue magic flew through the air from somewhere to the right. The earth around them was filled with craters from the fight.
"No," he muttered.
Something warm and wet dripped onto his feet. He knew from the lightness in his head what it was. Looking at it would only make it worse.
"Unfortunately, Morpheus couldn't breach Hecate's border. Despite her allegiance, she refused to give away the camp's position." The stranger paused as if contemplating his following statement. "Someone else had to take over in his stead."
"He wouldn't," Alex pleaded.
"Anyone can be bought for a price," he said almost gleefully. "After all, it was only too easy to convince Psyche to drop in with a few rhyming phrases. She did not forget Hades' insult during her time as a hero in the Underworld."
Alex felt his eyes burn as they welled with tears. "Who are you?"
"I thought you would never ask." The teenager ripped the sword from Alex's midsection. Without the stability of it there, Alex collapsed to his knees.
He felt the warm sensation of blood gushing over his splayed palms. It stained the grass below him a deep red.
"My name is Kronos, King of the Titans. Sadly, I could not meet you in my true form. That is a work in progress." Kronos in the stranger's body grinned, his white teeth glinting like razors.
"Koios is almost finished with your friends," Kronos stepped aside so Alex could view Peter and Sabrina. They were both lying on the ground now, with Sabrina covering Peter's body with her own. Alex watched as she screamed in his direction.
"You won't make it out of this vision alive, Alexander. I can't have you ruin everything I've worked so hard for." Kronos wiped his sword on the back of the dark-haired boy's shirt. "Don't worry about Erebus. He will be released once I've torn every inch of that retched wall to shreds and allowed the souls to roam freely. And yes, that will include my slain army. Hades will fall to Iapetus, and the Underworld will fall to me. Be glad you won't be there when it happens."
Kronos slipped his sword into the leather scabbard attached to his belt. It seemed strange to Alex that such a powerful being would wear a t-shirt and blue jeans.
"Koios!" Kronos shouted through the breach in whatever magic was keeping Alex in Elysium.
The giant man stopped with his sword barely hovering over Sabrina's curled-up body. Without saying a word, he and Kronos vanished into thin air.
Alex struggled to his feet. He had to get to them before the window closed. He had to save Sabrina from Peter.
"Sabrina!" He called with as much effort as he could muster. The strain caused more blood to leak from his stomach.
His body was getting weaker. He could barely manage to take a few steps forward before he collapsed, just on the edge of the vision.
"Sabrina!" He called once more.
She slowly lifted her head from where it hung over Peter's body. Her face was bruised and bloody, her blonde hair stained crimson around her face. She had a large slash in her shoulder that glowed with a similar icy blue to Koios' sword.
Alex felt his energy run out. He collapsed onto his back, feeling the soft grass cushion his fall. He watched white fluffy clouds pass over the canvas of baby blue as darkness invaded the edges of his vision.
There was nothing he could do now. He couldn't free his dad from Kronos, he couldn't fix the wall, and he couldn't stop the Underworld from falling. His growing list of failures only made it easier for him to succumb to the increasing feeling of exhaustion settling in his bones.