Chapter 16
We soared through the air at a fast pace. Even though I was used to flying, it was still weird to be at such heights. But I had to focus on what was important.
My mom was probably somewhere in Hades castle. But if Hades already knows I'm coming, there's no way I'm breaking in undetected." I thought to myself.
"So I have to stop Orcus from breaking free, retrieve the stone of souls, and return it to Hades's castle. All in one day." I concluded.
It sounded impossible, and in reality it probably was. If this god could break out of prison in Hades's own kingdom, how could I stop him.
I decided there was no point in thinking negative thoughts. Whatever happens, happens.
I felt my eyes getting heavier, keeping them open got harder by the second.
"Alright girl, imma take a little rest, uhh try and keep me alive I said. And wake me o when we land, or if there's trouble."
Wylo gave an understanding squawk in response.
With my mind at ease I leaned forward and quickly fell asleep on Wylo's soft feathers.
I slept for a few hours before I abruptly woke up. "What is it!" I asked panicked.
But I quickly realized why I had awoken. The sky we were flying in was filled with rain and dark clouds. I could barely see in front of me and the ground was completely invisible.
"Is Zeus angry over something?" I wondered. Whatever's the problem, it was making my travels a lot harder. I had know idea where we were or how to find out so I decided it was best we land.
"Down girl!" I yelled above the storm. Wylo instantly made her way safely to the ground. We landed in the middle of a street void of people.
I decided that Wylo didn't have to go since there was no one to spot her. Also, I would need all the help I could get for this final stretch.
We wandered the streets, trying to find any sign of where we were.
After several minutes of looking I found something that caught my attention. Between two buildings there was a la fence gate with a large keep out sign.
The thing that caught my attention was that the lock was lying in the floor, broken, with a chain cutter right next to it.
Something about it beckoned me forward causing me to approach it. I made my way through the gate, hand on my ring just in case there was any troubled.
The deeper I made my way in my wariness turned into fear. Wylo behind me also seemed unsettled.
Out of nowhere a bright light appeared in front of me. I quickly too out my scythe, preparing for battle. But the light only grew till it faded altogether.
"Who's there!" I yelled into the fog in front of me.
A moment later, the mist split to reveal Deimos standing there in all his glory.
"Uhh, Lord Deimos?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"
"To help you, what else?" He said casually.
"Why would you come to help me? You didn't seem to care during my challenges." I said. I knew I shouldn't be talking to him like this but u was suspicious.
"Cuz I'm interested in you. I'd be a bummer to see ya die so soon. So I suggest you put that down." He said as he snapped. Instantly my scythe dissipated and turned back into a ring.
"Now, take this and be on your way. And don't die or else I'm wasting that on you." He said. He threw a small satchel at mu feet.
I hesitantly picked it up. "What's in here?" I asked.
"A mount whistle. If you get in trouble you can make a quit getaway."
"Why wouldn't I just use Wylo?" I asked.
"What? Oh uhh, it cuz in the underworld you'll have a different aura to ya. Kinda like a home field adventure. If you were to ride that hippogriff it would die very quickly. It ain't made for the underworld." He replied.
I reached into the back, only to immediately reel it back. Whatever was in the bag was blazing hot.
"Is that coal?!" I asked.
"Nah, just as hot though. But you'll have to blow it to summon the mount, so you better get used to it."
"But that's all I got for you, demigod. Hurry up and finish your quest." Deimos took a step back and was engulfed in green flames, only leaving behind charred ground.
"Guess he doesn't hate me." I thought to myself. But he still made me uneasy. I looked at my hands to see them sweating profusely. Even when he was on my side he made me cower.
"Doesn't matter right now." I reminded myself. I made my way out the alley, more determined than ever. After only a few minutes of walking I found myself in front of a suspicious building.
"DOA recording studios" it read.
"This is it" I decided. This Iowa's the place I needed to be. I didn't know what made me so sure, but something about it was familiar.
"You ready?" I asked Wylo. She gave a slight nod in response.
I took a step forward and opened the door. I made my way inside, ring ready.
Immediately I noticed something wired. All of the people sitting around in the lobby were transparent looking.
They all starred at me, muttering things under their breath.
"Ghost." I determined. I was certain, they had the same distant feeling as Nekros did.
I noticed someone at the end of the lobby. He was a big guy with a security uniform. I made my way over to him.
"Uhh hel-" I couldn't finish my sentence before he cut me off.
"What is that beast doing in here!" He demanded.
"What?"
"Did you not see the sign, no pets aloud!" He continued.
"What do you mean pets?" I asked. I hoped he couldn't see Wylo.
"The beast behind you of course!" He said.
Wylo growled in response.
"Don't okay games with me demigod. Hurry up and state your business before your forced to leave."
"You know I'm a demigod?" I asked.
"What else would you be?" He said irritated. "Now what do you want?"
I decided to just be up forward. "I want to go to the underworld." I stated.
"Hmm? What makes you think I'll just take you there, demigod, after the annoyance you've caused me."
"Because I'm on a quest assigned to me by a Hades himself. Now, will you let me in?" I replied with the half truth.
"Th-that's you?! Very well, I, uh, apologize. I will quickly escort you down.
The man opened the gate to the side of him, letting me through. "Right this way."
Me and Wylo followed him till we came across an elevator.
"Uhh, will she fit?" I wondered.
"Don't worry about that, the ferry will change to accommodate any size." He replied.
"Ferry?"I wondered to myself.
"Out!" The man yelled at all the ghost in the elevator. "Out or another ten years yours to your wait!"
The ghost scurried our until the elevator was empty. We followed the man into the elevator once they cleared out.
The door closed and started to descend as soon as we were in. The lower we went down the faster we seemed to be going.
It got so fast that it became hard to keep my balance. Out of nowhere the decent abruptly stoped. It seemed to happen as I blinked but the scene around me change from a elevator wall to a vast plain on either side.
Instead of an elevator we were all in a long wooden boat flowing down a river.
"What!?" I turned to the man to see him in a long robe instead of his uniform. He was rowing down the river, paying me no attention.
"What just happened?" I asked again.
He turned around to reveal a empty skull in replace of his face. It took all my willpower to not jump back in fear.
"We are now, officially in the underworld. A one way trip from here." He stated.
His voice had changed from a normal deep voice to one that was more drawn out, and a lot less human.
Wylo was moving around nervously, not fond of our new surroundings at all. I couldn't blame her though, the scenes around us were nothing pretty.
We were now in a large wooden barge floating in a sickening polluted waters. The river was so dark I was pretty sure it was oil or something.
And that wasn't the worst part. The river itself was filled with...interesting items. Floating in the river were large animal bones and fish heads, accompanied by torn up diplomas and broken down dolls.
"What..what's all this...?" I asked.
"Disgusting, huh. You have humans to thank for this. Throwing their hopes and dreams into this river, permanently polluting." He said. He looked at me for a second too long.
"But you have more to worry about. Son of death or not, no one is invincible in the underworld."
I realized something when he said that. This was supposed to be my "home". I remembered what Phobos had said about my presence.
I hadn't noticed till now but I was feeling a lot more powerful and energized. And sure enough I looked down at my ring to see it glowing a black pulse.
Wether I liked it or not, this was my home. This was my origin. But then I remembered, Thanatos had done nothing for me.
I was from New York. That was home. I was Percy Jackson, son of Sally Jackson. Thanatos may have claimed me, but decided that I would never claim him.
"We're here, time for you to go, godling." Said the ferryman.
I looked up to see the shoreline of the underworld. Jagged obsidian rocks lined the shore a couple of hundred feet, leading up to a high plateau.
Our boat landed on some black sand near the plateau wall.
"I wish you luck on your journey, godling."
"Wait, I have a question before I go."
"What is it, godling?" He asked. "I don't have much time."
"Where is the death god Orcus being in-prisoned." I asked.
"What...do you mean Orcus." He replied shakily.
"I meant what I said, where can I find the god Orcus." I asked again.
"I shouldn't be telling you this, godling, son of death or not." He said. "But, if you need to know where he is for your quest, I must oblige."
"The death god Orcus, is kept deep in the forest of brutality within the fields of punishment. Let it be known, no matter your father, the forest of brutality is truly...brutal. It does not help that Thanatos is Orcus's mortal enemy."
He stated.
"I understand." I replied. I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but now my nerves were at an all time high. "Thanks for the information...?" I realized I didn't know his name.
"Charon." He said. And your welcome, godling, I wish you good luck on your journey."
Charon pushed off from the shore and turned his boat around, making his way back to the DOA studios.
Time to set off, I decided l. I traveled my way up a well-worn path up the cliff, Wylo trailing close behind.I was surprised to be met with what looked like a weird looking airport terminal.
There were three different entrances under one big archway that shadowed them all. Behind the entrances were tollbooths with figures that looked a lot like Charon. I also heard a distant barking that almost sounded happy.
What really stood out though were the long lines of ghost. Three in total, but only one was moving. The EZ death line was way ahead of the other two that were marked as "Attendant on Duty".
My attention quickly switched to a young man being carried away by two ghoul guards, not very quietly at that.
I had noticed him as one of the guys who was on the news for attempting a huge bank heists.
"I'm innocent!" He yelled. He kicked and squirmed but the guards didn't lighten there grip.
"The judges proved otherwise." Stated h The ghoul. "You are sentenced to the fields of punishment for the rest of eternity.
"NO!" He yelled before the guard snapped his fingers. Apparently he casted a spell or something because the man instantly passed out as his body went limp.
"Take him to the fields." He said as he handed the guy to a different guard.
The guard nodded and dragged the body away from the lines.
"The fields of punishment." I remembered. That's where Charon said the Orcus would be. I decided to follow the guard so I could get a lead on where Orcus was.
I signaled Wylo to come with me as I followed the guard until he led us to a different terminal completely to the left. The guard talked to the ghoul at the turn booth before walking through the entrance.
I looked beyond the entrance to see... horrible things. There were at least a hundred people n a field, getting inhumanely tortured.
Some were laid down on a stretch table, pulled to their limits, others were ring chased down by wild looking ferocious hellhounds, and others I didn't even want to describe what was happening.
I decided that no other place would fit the name "Fields of Punishment". I hadn't felt this much panic and fear since Phobos and Deimos's challenge. But I had overcome those and I would overcome this.
I made my way forward until I was face to face with the ghoul manning the tollbooth.
"Uh, hello. Can you please let me by?" I asked hopefully.
"Of course my lord, but first you must be scanned by the detectors." He replied.
"Detectors? To detect what?" I thought. I was pretty sure the guy so just walked through had plenty of metal on him.
Before I could say anything two ghouls appeared after no where and scanned me down with metal detecting looking devices. Wylo immediately got into a fighting stance, but yielded when she realized they were doing no harm. Not a moment later though, alarm bells rang for as far as I could tell.
I immediately whipped out my scythe and disposed of the ghoul on my left while Wylo took care of my right. I didn't know they would die so easily but I had to find a way into the fields quick.
Before I could act on anything though, a screech echoed above me. I looked up to see none other than Mrs Dodd's batting her wings and skating down to meet me.
She held in her hand a fiery whip, but I knew she was still dangerous without it.
She landed only a couple of feet in front of me and Wylo, both of us ready to attack.
"Hello there, Perseus." Screeched the fury.
"What do you want, Mrs Dodd's." I barked out.
"Please, call me Alecto." She said sweetly. I cringed internally. "As for what I want, I am simply doing my job."
"An outsider and his pet are trying to make it into my fields of punishment." She snarled.
"I'm the son of Thanatos, let me through." I said.
"That won't work on me, little child. Don't forget, your still the number one suspect for the thief of the stone." She replied.
"And now I'm clearing my name, so let me through." I said confidently.
"But you do know what will happen if you don't, you will be tried and found guilty, leaving your fate in my hands." She said.
"That won't happen. Now let me through, Alecto, before o use force." I said getting tired of this.
"You really think you and your little pet stand a chance against me and my companions?" She asked. Wylo growled in response. "But lucky for you, there is no need for bloodshed, for now. Go little demigod. Whatever you wish to achieve in those fields remains a mystery to me though." She said.
The fury immediately took off with a bloodcurdling screech before making her way past the EZ death line.
I sighed a sigh of relief before putting away my weapon.
"Ok Wylo, there's no time to waste I said giving her a slight pet." We made our way through the entrance and immediately made our way to the left.
We wanted to avoid the torture as much as possible and way to the right we could see a huge black castles which I assumed was Hades's and I wanted to stay as far away from that as I could.
Wylo and I tracked for what seemed like forever in the fields m, coming across more and more horrid sights, before finally coming to a couple of trees.
And this trees quickly turned into a dense forest. "Don't think there would be too many normal forests in a place like this." I said. "This must be it, the forest of brutalities."
After only a few seconds of walking into the forest I already felt off. I still had the same strength as before, but it just felt different
It had a different vibe to it I guess. The power was still there but it didn't seem as easy to pull out, as if my body didn't want it to be there at all. But that wasn't't the only thing that put me off.
It was faint at first but there was no denying that we were closing in on a menacing presence. We continued to walk but stopped dead in our tracks when we came across a clearing. I immediately whipped out my scythe and Wylo got in a fighting stance.
At the end of a clearing was a cave that I couldn't see two feet into because of how dark it was, but that wasn't what I was worried about.
Curled up and sleeping in the middle of the clearing was a pitch black dog-horse hybrid with three massive horns covering its head, and to add on, it was the size of an elephant.
And to make matters even worse, the moment I took out my weapon, it's big black beady eyes snapped open.
Slightly longer chapter to make for the probably obvious typos and i think i missed a day to post, i dont even know. Screw quality over quantity cuz i said i would update. Thanks for feedback though, and just gonna let yall know that the next chapter... is finna be crazy. Also this book is coming close to its conclusion as yall could probably tell with its relation with the actual book. Just gonna say it now, no connection with the son of Poseidon in this book unless i last minute change. That will be explained when i do finish. And also the series "Son of Thanatos" will continue on obviously past this book one. That too will also be explained in deep detail at the end.