It was worse than he could have ever imagined. Far worse. The moment that Ryker stepped through the door the overwhelming scent of gore and blood assaulted him, forcing him to take an involuntary step back. The stench was awful, worse than anything he had ever smelled before, but despite that he still made out the distinct scents of demigods mixed among the atrocious odor. He braced himself and stepped through the doorway once more. The room's floor was made of the same flesh-like material that the outside ground had been, but the walls were evidently hewn from stone. In the center of the room sat a stone basin on a stygian iron pedestal. Ryker didn't bother checking but he heard the distinctive sound of water running through the basin. He didn't bother checking because something else had captured his attention. He had expected to have to search for the demigods, perhaps they were being held in some manner of cell, but that was not the case at all. They were hanging from the ceilings by their wrists.

Ryker's hands curled into fists and he felt the blood drain from his face as he shook from his anger. Tartarus had left them to dangle, to have the constant pain of their wrists being dug into by metal shackles. But that was not the worst thing that the primordial god had done to them. Ryker had smelled gore when he walked in, and he now saw why. Blood coated each of their skin in layers. Their clothing had been reduced to tatters or, in some cases, had been torn away completely. Those with clothes were a mercy, Ryker was spared from seeing the extent of their injuries. Cuts ran up and down their bodies, several of them still slowly dripping blood. The old, festering blood had been left on their skin and to fall onto the floor beneath them.

When the door closed behind them only a few of them even stirred. One moaned piteously, attempting to shift his position despite hanging in the air. Another whimpered, "Please, no more."

The others didn't even raise their heads. Ryker recognized a few of them, but several more had so much blood and muck obscuring their face that they simply weren't recognizable. Ryker went to work quickly, breaking the chains that held them aloft one by one. The cries of pain that the demigods gave as their legs suddenly were forced to bear a weight that they hadn't had to in weeks pulled at even Ryker's heartstrings in empathy. The ones who said nothing however, who vocalized no pain or joy, they were the ones who worried him. They simply folded in on themselves and laid there without saying nothing. Ryker made his way quickly through the chained demigods, arriving at the last one in no time at all. It was a female he saw immediately. She was in the bare remnants of some sort dress that seemed to be made of feathers or something of the like. He dismissed this out of hand when the significance of this observation hit him. He had just seen the Corrupted version of her upstairs and, yet, the difference between them could not have been plainer.

"Silver." He breathed, his voice nearly catching in his throat. He broke the chains that bound her and caught her just before she fell to the floor. "Hey, Silver wake up!"

She whimpered and attempted to curl up on herself, her wrists bleeding freely from being rubbed raw by the shackles. Ryker gathered her in his arms, whispering to her urgently. She didn't respond with anything other than the continued pitiful whimpers and small cries of pain. He gently placed her on the ground by the stone basin and set to gathering the others by it as well. None of them gave him so much as a hint of trouble, all of them too hurt and weak to offer anything in the way of resistance.

Orion had warned him of this before Ryker set off into Camp Jupiter, but seeing it firsthand made him realize that nothing could have prepared him for this. "They are being harvested for their blood." Orion had explain quickly. "Normally they would be dead by now, but every time they get close Tartarus will force them to drink from the stone basin in the center of the room they are being held in. It's a run off of the River Phlegethon. It heals them enough to give them their strength back and mends their wounds. It also acts like sort of a liquid diet. When you get there you are going to need to make them drink, otherwise they won't last long."

So Ryker did just that. He attended to Silver first, gently cupping water into his hands and forcing her to drink. It took several tries for her to actually keep the water down, but eventually she managed to drink some on her own. She seemed to be in some sort of stupor at first, but as she drank the third handful of water she seemed to slowly return. "Not again," She moaned, attempting to push away Ryker's hands in a weak attempt at perceived rebellion.

The simple defiant act set Ryker's heart at ease, if only slightly. He paused and considered this feeling of relief, but shrugged it off and resolved to contemplate it later. Now was neither the time nor the place. "Hey, hey, hey." He said soothingly, adopting the same tone he would take for a young or wounded animal. "Easy, Silver. It's me, it's me. It's Ryker."

"Yeah, sure it is." She said, conjuring up weak sarcasm. She pushed away the proffered water again and attempted to scoot away, her arms not yet strong enough to bear her weight. "Get away from me, psycho."

"Listen, bird girl." Ryker growled slightly, grabbing her arm and hauling her back the few inches she had managed to move. "You are going to drink, and you are probably not going to like it. But I need you to help me with the others."

She slowly turned back to stare at him, her eyes filling with tears as she apparently saw something in his own eyes. "Is it you?" She choked back a sob, reaching her arms out to him. "Is it really you? It's not some Corrupted copy?"

Ryker leaned down and was abruptly wrapped in a tight hug, surprising him. "Yes, it's me." He said, attempting to disentangle himself from her arms. "Now, drink. You need your strength."

"I didn't think anyone would ever come for us." She admitted, her sobs having subsided as she drank. She groaned and gagged but kept the water down. "Oh you have no idea how bad this water tastes."

"It's doing its job though." Ryker reminded her, forcing her to drink more. He glanced at the others, all of whom were still incapacitated and unmoving. "We need to hurry. I killed the monsters guarding you, but I don't know how long it will take for them to regenerate."

"I'm fine now." Silver said, shakily getting to her feet. She stood tall for a moment, raising her chin defiantly before her legs gave out beneath her. Just before she hit the ground Ryker caught her easily enough, wrapping one arm around her waist. He set her gently onto the floor and gnawed his lip, examining the others. "Um, I… hate to ask but can I have your coat?"

Ryker glanced back to her in confusion and glanced down to her own shirt. He then blinked and his cheeks turned crimson, marking the first time in his life that he ever blushed. He pulled off the shadowy coat and tossed it to her, purposefully looking away. He looked over the other demigods and pulled out the charm Nyx had given him and looked at it thoughtfully. "It's time to go." He decided quietly. "They'll heal faster in Elysium."

"What was that?" Silver asked, getting to her feet once more and clinging to his arm in support. "Elysium? We aren't dead!"

"It's a long story." Ryker told her, bringing the charm into the air before him. Darkness seemed to pour out of the little trinket and wrap itself around everyone present, enveloping them in darkness. Ryker and Silver were the last to disappear into the dark.

Ryker felt an unpleasant sensation like the floor beneath him shaking violently and then a sudden weightlessness before the darkness abruptly evaporated and he found himself in Elysium, surrounded by the stunned looks of demigods. Their gaze immediately switched to the battered and broken demigods surrounding him and they immediately went to work. Ryker had prepared himself for some manner of fight, but when none was forthcoming he was pleasantly surprised. His battle with the Corrupted Silver had left a bad taste in his mouth, one that he was certain was not going away for some time.

"You made it!" The familiar voice of Annabeth announced happily, pushing through the crowd and breathing a relieved sigh as she beheld her formerly missing friends. "They're alive."

"We already knew that." Ryker reminded her, his arm still around Silver's waist. "Otherwise they would be here. I don't think I need to state the obvious, that they need help?"

"We're on it." Annabeth promised. "Elysium has a massive supply of nectar and ambrosia. They'll be healed up in no time."

"Please tell me this place has a shower." Silver asked hopefully. "We all need one."

"Oh, you are going to love it." Annabeth promised, taking Silver by the hand and leading her away. "It's huge! And the water gets as hot, or as cold, as you want it to be."

They began to speak rapidly on the showers and other comforts offered by Elysium as they walked away, which left Ryker standing there awkwardly as the demigods rapidly attended to their wounded friends. He glanced around for some direction and, upon finding none, decided that being in Elysium was most likely not in anyone's best interest. The words of Erebus regarding Thanatos knowing when an unwelcome soul was in his domain rang in Ryker's ears and he quickly made his way out. Or, at least, he tried to. For some reason every time that he would approach the border of Elysium he would blink and find himself back at the center of the place. This happened several times before Ryker breathed an angry sigh and shoved his hands in his pockets. He frowned when he felt paper crunch beneath his fingers and quickly brought out what appeared to be a sticky note. It will be good for you to socialize. – Erebus

"Why you…." Ryker grumbled out several more words and glanced back at the paper, shaking his head as he watched the writing on the note changed.

Heard that. – Erebus