Percy Jackson: Tides of Darkness

~ by Deadzio


Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Rick Riordan and Disney Hyperion Publishing Company.


Summary: Percy Jackson is the first demigod son of Nyx. While living in Tartarus with his mother he stumbles upon Luke, retrieving the sarcophagus of Kronos. Feeling the need to prevent the world from the madness of the Titan of Time, Percy decides to help the demigods. PercyxBianca! Rated M for gore and maybe later lemons. Crossposted on Wattpad.


Chapter 1 ~ Under Cover of the Night

Another day ended, as it had been for millennia. Darkness fell over the world, heralding the onset of night.

People finished their work, called it a day and went to sleep. They turned off their lights and houses were engulfed by darkness.

But there were exceptions. New York, the city that never sleeps, lived up to its name. Here the lights stayed on, the noise did not stop as the streets continued to be filled with cars of all shapes and colors.

And the people were still awake, too. In the Big Apple, many people worked at night or didn't finish their work until nightfall.

Markus Jackson was one of those people. After one of the longest days he ever had to spend in his office, the tall man walked toward his apartment.

As he took the shortcut through Central Park, his black hair fell in his face, hiding his sea-green eyes, which showed the efforts of the day and the joy of finally being allowed to leave the architect's office.

He strode energetically along the paths of Central Park, past the empty benches where children sat with their parents during the day. Markus had always wanted to have children, but so far his efforts at successful relationships had been in vain.

The empty benches at night were a painful reminder that he had no children. He could only watch and wish from the shadows. All the benches but one.

On the bench next to a row of bushes and trees, sat a woman who looked to be a little over 25 years old.

Her perfect hourglass figure was encased in a black dress that contrasted with her pale yet incredibly beautiful skin. The dress went down to her knees and showed her long and slender legs. She was barefoot, which was very unusual in winter, but she didn't seemed to be bothered by the cold winds of the winter, eventhough she wasn't wearing a thick jacket like Markus.

With her high cheekbones, her pitch black eyes and her hair, darker than the night itself, surrounding her heart-shaped face, she looked so preternaturally pretty that she would have outshone any top model from the USA. She looked divine. She looked like a goddess. Her skin seemed so glow a little bit in the dark in contrast to her hair and clothes.

Markus was able to see all these details with just one little gaze at her figure, something that shouldn't be possible in the barely lit park.

But the image was ruined by the tears running down her cheeks and falling into her hands. She let out a quiet sob.

In all the rest of New York, no one would have paid any attention to the woman.

The noise of the cars would have drowned out the sound, but here in Central Park at night it was quiet. Markus' steps stopped abruptly when he heard the sobbing. He looked to the side and saw in the light of the moon and the few lanterns in the park the woman sitting on the bench at the edge of the wide path.

He did not know what influence the next words would have on him and whom he was addressing at all. He did not know what power this woman possessed and how the fate of the world would change with the following conversation.

"Excuse me Miss, can I help you?" Markus asked. He didn't know the woman, but he knew when someone needed help and he was always happy to offer his assistance, since he had been raised to always help someone in need.

"What did you say?" came in reply as the woman raised her head and looked him in the eyes in confusion.

Markus slowly came closer and looked into the darkest eyes he had ever seen. They seemed to absorb all the light from the surroundings.

"Can I help you? It can be comforting to talk to someone about it and to be able to take the weight off your shoulders."

"Oh." The woman did not seem to have expected this. She wasn't really expecting anyone, and certainly not a mortal, but right now she didn't care about that fact at all. She needed company and at this moment she really welcomed everyone.

"Gladly, if it doesn't inconvenience you. Please have a seat."

"So," Markus began as he took a seat next to the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. "What's bothering you so much that you're sitting all alone in the dark here in the park at this hour? "

The woman looked at him and immediately his heart beat a little faster.

"You could say that I work at night." She smirked a bit as she said this. "Sometimes I come in on particularly stressful days and try to relax. "

"I see. This is the only place where you can escape the noise of the streets during the night. But I do not think that that was the reason you came here today."

The woman gave out a soft laugh and despite the tears, Markus thought this was a wonderful sound.

"How attentively observed. No, I am in this state because my husband left me and cheated on me. Being married for years probably meant nothing to him."

Mark immediately felt sympathy for the woman. A month ago, his girlfriend had also cheated on him and subsequently left him. He knew the empty feeling of hopelessness in his heart and the feeling of falling, as if someone had opened a trap door under you.

"I understand your pain. Something like that was done to me a short time ago, too."

"Really? But you look much better than me for it. Do you have any advice?"

Before Markus could reply, he was interrupted by a loud growl. He jerked his head around and looked into the fiery red eyes of the biggest and most fearsome dog he had ever seen.

He had black fur and was as big as a small car. Mark had seen strange creatures more often in the past, but he had learned to ignore them since no one else could see them.

The woman next to him jumped up and just held out her hand. Markus was about to warn her, when the gigantic dog whimpered and, to Markus's amazement, it dissolved into a black mass of shadows and was gone.

"What the hell?" Markus asked.

"Hell is right. That was a hell hound." replied the woman.

Then she suddenly turned around to face him.

"Wait a minute you could see him?"

"What kind of question is that, please? Of course I could see the huge monster dog thing that was about to eat me and was right under my nose! By the way, thanks for the rescue, however you did it."

"Ah. Interesting. A clear sighted mortal." the woman murmured. "But why would it attack you..."

"What, what's going on here anyway?"

Thoughts whirled around in Mark's head and he couldn't think straight.

"Sit down and I'll explain."

After Markus sat down, the woman moved closer to him.

"Are you some kind of witch or something?"

The woman blushed and burst out laughing. A wonderful sound that seemed out of this world.

"Haha you think I'm a witch? Haha. Oh my goodness. I'm not one of that little gang of weirdos from the UK. Haha, that reminds me, I have to go back there for the night soon. Well anyway. To answer your question, no, I'm not a witch, I'm much more.

Do you know of any other more famous hellhounds? Maybe one with three heads?"

"You mean Cerberus?"

"That's right. And I suppose this isn't the first time you've seen strange creatures that no one else could see?"

The thoughts in Mark's head were still swirling around like a storm. Images of women with green skin and of a man with only one eye on his forehead who had once walked outside his office came to his mind.

"Yes, a guy with one eye, for example."

"And which creature has only one eye and comes from the same culture as Cerberus?"

"The Cyclops."

Now Markus could concentrate on one thought. On a possible solution to the question of whether he was crazy.

"Does this mean that Greek Mythology is real?" Mark's voice trembled a little.

The woman smiled. "Ding ding ding. We have a winner. Yes my dear Markus, Greek Mythology is real."

Mark heaved a relieved sigh.

"Hmm. No denial? No accusations of me being crazy? You believe me just like that? Well, that's a new one."

"I believe you. I'm just glad I'm not crazy. All my life I've been able to see things that others haven't. I thought I was crazy.

Wait a minute. How do you know my name? I never told you."

The woman rolled her eyes.

"If the monsters are real, then the gods are real, too."

"The gods? Like the ones on Olympus? Zeus, Poseidon or Hades?"

Thunder sounded in the background.

"You shouldn't throw those names around carelessly. Names have power. But yes, the gods are real. After all, they are immortal, so why would they cease to exist after 4000 years?

Hades just doesn't belong to the Olympians. What a shame. He was the only one of those idiots I could ever stand."

"Does that mean you're not one of them?"

"Haha, no my dear Markus Jackson."

"I better not even question how you know my name, right?"

"Shut up and don't interrupt me. I was just about to explain who I am in an epic way. Now you've ruined my monologue."

"Sorry."

"You should be. As I was about to say before you interrupted me, I am much older and more powerful than the Olympians. Secret magic is worked under the protection of my cloak. I bring darkness to the world every day. The stars shine only because I allow them to. I am one of the oldest daughters of Chaos, the Creator. I am a part of the very fabric of this universe. A Primordial Goddess, a personification of my domain. I existed since the dawn of time and I will still exist when humanity is long gone and even the Olympians have faded. I am the night. I am Nyx."

"Okay. I guess that's cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Aaahm... now do I have to bow down to you and get on my knees or something? Or we could go back to where your husband cheated on you. Now that I think about it, he would have to be a god too right?"

"Huh? No 'Please spare me oh great Nyx? Were you not listening? I would only have to twitch a finger to blow you to pieces and torture your soul with the horrors of the Mansion of the Night for all eternity until you fall into madness and beg for the sweet redemption of death, which by the way is my son, but will never come?"

"Wow you really have it in you with epic speeches that scare poor men who were just trying to help a crying woman on a park bench on their way home from work."

Nyx grinned. The tears had dried and seemed forgotten.

"Thank you. I practice such things in front of the mirror.

But yes, my husband is Erebus, the Primordial God of Darkness. And he cheated on me with Ananke. She was always a little bitch. Maybe I should torture her children and then throw them into the abyss of chaos to take revenge on her. But then maybe a war would break out between the forces of Night and Destiny that would wipe out all of humanity. Hmmm maybe that's not a good idea."

"Yeah, please don't do that. I would like to live a little longer if you don't mind. I don't think revenge is the solution to your problem."

"My daughter Nemesis would disagree."

"I'm not even trying to understand. But like I was just going to say, you'd better find a new lover or just start dating. Someone to help you get over it. A friend. Someone who doesn't make you feel lonely and loved."

"A friend. Why not? But I don't know many good people. Would you like to be my friend? Maybe more?"

Markus smiled at her and put his hand on her hands.

"I'd love to, Nyx."


Markus Jackson and Nyx met every night for the next two years on this very park bench. Strangers became friends and friends became lovers. Two years after their first meeting, in Central Park, a baby's cry rang out in Tartarus, or more precisely, in the Mansion of the Night.

On August 18, 1993, the baby opened its eyes for the first time. One was sea green like his father's, the other was black as night, just like his mother's. He looked into his mother's loving eyes, which resembled his right eye.

Nyx layed in a bed, surrounded by the children of hers who still visited her in her mansion and wanted to aknowledge their newborn brother.

"He is powerful. More powerful than any other demigod before him." Nemesis said.

"A great destiny is predestined for him." said Thanatos.

"He is soooo cuteeee." squealed Lyssa excitedly, hopping around as if she'd had too much coffee.

"We are going to have soooo much fun together my little brother. I will teach you how to fight and how to seduce women. You're going to be a heartbreaker, you cuddly little thing. Haha."

Eris narrowed his eyes. "Shut up Lyssa, I won't let our brother become as crazy as you."

"Oh yeah, so he's supposed to be grumpy and start fights like you always do. Ts ts, as if that would be better..." Lyssa hissed.

Nemesis ignored her bickering sisters. She focused on the little bundle in Nyx's arms that was giggling and grabbing its mother's fingers.

"He will restore the balance. He is the child of the Great Prophecy."

"Are you sure?" Nyx asked.

"Yes, I can feel it within my domain. He will perform heroic deeds that no one else has ever accomplished. When all hope is lost, he will defend humanity from its enemies."

"With his cuteness!" Lyssa interjected in the background.

"An aura of death follows his future. But not mine, so it will be violent. He will bring destruction to his enemies, but he will always come out on top. That much I can tell. What will you name him?" Thanatos asked as he extended one of his black wings and tickled the baby lightly under the chin. It laughed and squirmed.

Nyx didn't take her eyes off her son and said in a soft voice, while stroking her son's head, "Perseus, my little destroyer."