6/14/20

Sorry about the delay. I got hooked on Minecraft. Enjoy this chapter!

I changed up Chapter 9, where Percy runs into the Arai, so that when he is cursed to die, he does, but since Thanatos cant claim his soul, he is able to heal himself with the last of his Nectar.

Wordcount: 1350

The Prison of Bronze

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Percy POV:

His arms shook, and his sweaty palms nearly slipped off the swords. Just a few more feet, he thought. He pulled out Riptide from the wall and slammed it back in, about a few feet higher. He switched Vengeance back into a watch and reached up. Grabbing onto the top of the wall, he pulls himself up. Breathing heavily, he flopped onto his back, staring up at the clouds of blood high above him.

He closed his eyes and tried to slow his heart rate. He wiped the sweat off his hands onto what was left of his jeans. He reached into his pocket and closed his fist around Riptide, which had disappeared from the wall. He took a deep breath and stood up, his arms still weak from climbing up a whole dam castle wall. Leaning against the battlements, he surveyed the top of the wall. The wall he was standing on connected to the walls of the pit on either side, and another wall stretched the gap on the other side.

He had been expecting to see monsters. What he had not been expecting to see, was skeletons. Human skeletons. The place was crawling with them. They were patrolling the wall, sitting in the towers, and from what he could see inside the castle, they were moving in and out of this large building in the center of the compound. They were all dressed differently. Some wore ancient greek armor and carried spears, while others wore tattered US Army fatigues and carried M-16 rifles. It reminded him of the Skeletons he had seen when he went to the underworld.

He brought out Riptide as one walked past him, wearing a broken suit of knight armor, but it just nodded at him and continued patrolling the wall. Huh. He started walking down the wall, trying to find a way down. He ran into another skeleton, Literally. He was looking down at the big building at the bottom when he bumped into it. It was wearing a British redcoat uniform and carrying a musket. It stared at him, it's empty eye sockets boring into his soul. He stared straight back. It stepped to the side and continued to march down the wall.

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At the end of the wall, he entered the tower. A spiral staircase led down to the ground floor and up to the top of the tower. He walked down, his footsteps echoed loudly around him. Riptide was still clenched in his hand, just in case this was a trap. He glanced down the stairs to the bottom, more specifically the door to the inside. It was shut, and stayed shut until Percy pushed it open.

From the top of the walls, the Building had seemed almost small, but now that he was at the base, he could see that it was massive. It was moderately short, only 3 stories tall, but what it lacked in height it made up for in width and length. Skeletons patrolled the roof, and two stood on either side of the door. They watched him as he approached, regarding him silently with empty eye sockets. He pushed the door open, and they made no move to stop him, so he walked in.

The door led to a small room. There was a desk, behind which sat a ghoul. There was a heavy bronze door behind it. The ghoul glanced up and stared at him. Its eyes widened, and it scrambled out of its chair. It grabbed a key off the table and pushed it into the door. With a loud click, the door unlocked. The ghoul pushed it open before retreating away from Percy. Percy glanced at him, briefly wondering why it seemed so skittish, before moving through the heavy door.

It was a long hallway, with a door at the end. Cells lined the hall on either side. He glanced into one and saw a person strapped to a dental chair being operated on with several saws, drills, and other pieces of machinery he didn't even know existed. The person was still awake and looked to be screaming, but Percy couldn't hear anything. He continued walking and glanced into another. It seemed pretty tame, just a dude sitting in the middle of a room, surrounded by Pineapples, but the guy seemed pretty terrified.

He reached the door at the end of the hallway. He reached for the door when a voice made him stop in his tracks. He turned around and saw that one of the cell doors was slightly ajar. He approached the door when the voice rang out again. It was definitely coming from the door. He pulled open the door and stepped inside. There was a person in knee-high water. There was an apple tree leaning over him. The figure reached up and the tree leaned away from him. The figure cursed and Vengeance appeared in his left hand.

He capped Riptide and put Vengeance in his right hand. The figure finally seemed to notice his presence. He looked over at him and began begging Percy for something, but he didn't hear it. He walked forward, the water parting for him. The figure finally recognized him.

"P-Percy?" The figure spoke. "Tantalus," Percy responded. Percy didn't slow down as he approached Tantalus. He began to stumble back, but the water tripped him. Tantalus tried to crawl away, but Percy put his foot on his chest. As Percy raised his sword, Tantalus' eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something, but Percy cut him off. He swung his sword and Tantalus stopped talking.

Blood dripped from Percy's sword as he walked out of the cell. He moved back to the end of the hall and opened the door. A staircase stood in front of him, and doors stretched on either side of him. A map was taped to the wall in front of him. The first two floors were for humans, while the third floor was dedicated to immortals. He began walking up the stairs, making his way to the third floor.

The door to the third floor was even more reinforced than the former floors. Two skeletons stood on either side of the door but did nothing as Percy shoved it open. There were far fewer doors on this level, but they were very heavily reinforced. He walked through the hall until he reached the last door. It was just a regular door, one that wouldn't seem out of place in a suburban neighborhood, but he could feel magic radiating off of it. He tried the door and it swung open without a noise.

The inside was nice. It was nicely furnished, and it smelled like freshly baked bread. He turned his sword back into a watch and stepped inside. He wandered around the cell, which was furnished like a suburban house, just without the windows. He heard something from one of the rooms and stepped in.

The room was obviously a kitchen, fully fleshed out with a stove, microwave, refrigerator, and all the other odds and ends. There was a woman bent over the counter, mixing a bowl of dough. She was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt and had auburn hair. He coughed and she spun around, grabbing a celestial bronze knife off the counter. She pointed the knife at him threateningly and narrowed her eyes.

"Who are you?" she demanded. Percy held up his hands in a placating manner, "Percy. Percy Jackson." She lowered her knife and looked him over. "Well, in that case, Dinner will be ready soon. We have much to discuss."

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Did I miss any spelling mistakes? Want to suggest a future plot point? Please review!