Chapter 5: The Janitor of Tartarus

(A/N: Sorry if this chapter sucked and you guys had to wait almost 3 months for this, I had some personal matters to take care of. Nonetheless tell me what you think about this chapter in the reviews!)

Percy trekked down another dark corridor, this one no different than the one that he just passed through. Having excused himself and left the balcony that the four were eating in silence at to escape from Styx's weird looks, Percy walked back to his room just to have this sudden feeling that he should explore the Mansion of Night. Having nothing to do, he decided to comply, and now he is walking down identical corridors to search for something, but he have no idea what that something was.

Percy turned left, and ended up facing a door at the end of the corridor. The door is completely black, without any indication what is inside. 'Open it.' His mind told him. Percy obeyed, pushing open the door, and ended up in an armory. Rows of swords and spears are stacked up neatly on one side, bows and quivers full of arrows on the other. Percy, still curious to why he had these feelings, continued to follow it and walked to the opposite end of the room, where a table with three boxes on it was present. As soon as he saw it, the feeling in his head disappeared. Percy walked over to the table and looked at the boxes, a slanted character 'C' was written on each of the covers in silver. He noticed a sheet of paper on the table in between the smallest first box and the biggest second box. He picked it up, and read,

'Dear Percy,

Hello Percy, I hope that you are over the death of young Annabeth. I, ah, persuaded Hades to put her straight into the Third Isle of Blessed,' Percy's brows furrowed at this sentence, expecting it to be Hades, but the writer made sure that he wasn't Hades by all means. Percy continued to read, 'since that seems kind of fitting to the hero that she was, yeah? Believe me when I say I know, I really know. Now, you may wonder who I am, and I have no intention of hiding things from you, my name is Chaos. Yeah, the Creator, that Chaos. My aunts have seen many hardships before you, the most imminent one being that you are in Tartarus. I have watched your life since the beginning, and you have thoroughly impressed me, to say the least. You have defied Fate alone time and time again, but this time I think you deserve a bit of help. And so to help with your survival in that pit, I've given you some gifts, as seen in the three boxes before you. I have written separate notes for each one, so be sure to read it. Plus please give this extra letter to my daughter Nyx. I haven't had the time to visit her for so long, or even talk to her.

Stay safe,

-C

P.S.: Look beneath the third box before opening.'

Percy stood there, holding the letter, stunned. It is not every day that the Creator of the universe wrote a letter to you. He looked down at the three boxes, the smallest box being the closest to him. He slid the lid open, and there was a foot-long knife in a sheath, wooden by the looks of it, surrounded in silver velvet. The entirety of the handle and sheath is midnight black, and a note was placed on top of the blade. Percy read again, 'This is a wakazashi, a short sword from Japan. This sword is made from the very essence of my being, which makes it pretty much unbreakable. It is also the sharpest of its kind in existence, and will neither not rust nor dull over any periods of time. You can lit it on fire and it will not break, melt or anything. Like I said, unbreakable.'

Percy set aside the note, and touched the wakazashi. As soon as he did that, a pang of pain exploded in his head, and forced him to his knees. Percy waited until the pain subsided, and stood back up. He looked all over himself, not seeing any difference, still in his bloodstained orange CHB shirt and ripped jeans. Even his pair of Converse are still on. Shaking his head, he picked up the blade and unsheathed it, and gave it a few experimental swipes, before his mind went on autopilot, wielding the blade in an expert fashion. Percy stopped himself, shocked. He put the blade back into the box and stared down his left hand, which he picked up the wakazashi with. And he wished he hasn't, because it made him even more scared of Chaos.

There was a tattoo on his wrist.

Then the card shone. It blinked once in a purple and black light before suddenly more writing appeared on the card. Percy hurriedly read the added lines, hoping that it will tell him what is going on.

'Sorry for startling you, but let me explain since I did not do so before. Firstly, you have nothing to fear from me. I swear on my name that I will not harm you in any way, shape or form. Secondly, I have given you complete knowledge of how to wield the weapons as soon as you touch them. That's the headache you experienced. Another fault on my part not warning you about it. Thirdly, the weapons will store as tattoos on your wrists. Like the Nova being the ring on your left hand, it will be in your hand as soon as you think about it. Now, open the next box!'

Percy put the note card down once again, noticing with a start that the wakazashi was gone from the box, apparently stored as the pitch black tattoo replica of that on his left wrist. Percy then pulled the next box over to him, and slid it open. Then he gasped. Inside was a gorgeous unsheathed katana, the black wooden sheath placed next to it. The blade was silver, with a splash of purple and sea green along the edges, while the whole sword gave off a slight sea green glow to it. The hilt was black with slits showing the silvery metal underneath. Percy noticed another note, and he internally groaned. While he has nothing on reading, he would prefer Chaos to actually show up instead of using these notes and letters, his dyslexia making it difficult for him. Nonetheless he picked up the rather short note.

'This is a katana, in case you don't already know. It is made in the same way as your wakazashi, so it is unbreakable as well. It is specially designed to fit your fighting style of a Greek, instead of traditional Japanese style. I took liberty with the design, I hope you will like it. Also pick this up with your right hand, I think you would not like having two tattoos on the same hand.'

As soon as Percy reached out to the sword, a searing pain even more intense than the last time burned itself into his brain. Percy crumpled to his knees, the pain almost unbearable for him. He struggled back to his feet, and felt the katana leave his grip. Opening his eyes, he found that the katana has already disappeared and a new tattoo appeared on his right wrist. Percy groaned and pushed the box to the side, pulling the last box towards him as he did so. Remembering Chaos's initial letter, he lifted the box to find a black envelope with the slanted 'C' design like everything else. He also placed it to the side, and opened the last box, excited to see what Chao's last gift to him is. The cover was pulled up to reveal a black ring surrounded by silver velvet. Strangely, there is no note this time with the ring. Not daring to question Chaos's gifts, he put on the ring. For a second, nothing happened. Then the world exploded in white light.

Line Break

Percy opened his eyes and sat up, gasping. The only thing in his head is the imminent death of himself exploding after putting on his ring. Then he heard laughter. A clear, sparkling sound that came from behind him. He whipped around and saw the most beautiful woman he saw in his short life. Long, smooth black hair cascaded down her shoulders, an oval face with big black swirling eyes filled with mirth, perfect red lips pulled into a grin. Her black dress rippled as she stepped towards the wide-eyed Hero of Olympus on the floor, and she offered him her hand. Percy took it and stood up, eyeing the mystery woman with quite a bit of curiosity. Smirking a bit, the women waved her hand and two chairs appeared. She sat down in one and motioned Percy to sit in the other.

'Sorry about that Percy, the effects of the two blades of me being back together within the same owner maybe be too…explosive. Your body cannot handle the power and nearly burned up, if you did not defeat the three Titans and you were not in Tartarus.' Holding up a hand to stop her, Percy sounded the questions in his mind. 'Wait a moment. Who are you? Why are you telling me this? Where am I?' The woman chuckled. 'Did you not wish for a face to face in place of notes? To answer your first question, I am Chaos. And don't bow.' Percy hastily pulled himself back up straight. 'I was telling you why you are here before you interrupted me. As I was saying, your body couldn't support and almost burned up by the huge amount of power that the two blades gave you when they combined. Now, if you were wondering about why it didn't give you powers when Aether gave you Nova and what powers it gave you, it's a failsafe if ever one of my swords was ever discovered by a person who I do not intend to give the swords to. So, as my daughter explained to you, you now have the domains of Kronos, Hyperion and Pallas, as well as the powers of a hellhound and the Chimera. You should feel the powers right about… Now.'

As soon as Chaos finished her sentence a rush of power coursed through Percy, and he feel himself heating up, becoming hotter and hotter by the second. Percy, feeling as if he is being slowly cooked from the inside out, screamed, as pain coursed through his body. Then as suddenly as it began, it stopped. Percy fell to his knees, gasping for air after the unpleasant experience. Chaos knelt down next to him, her face a mix of anxiety and concern. After a little while Percy straightened up, and, noticing at his half melted chair, looked to Chaos. To his surprise Chaos just gave him a small smile. 'Time to test out your new powers Percy. Try thinking of time reversing around the chair.' Percy did as he was told, and after frowning at the chair for a few minutes, the chair start to repair itself slowly, piece by melted piece, until it was restored to what it looked like before. Percy stepped forward only to crumple to his knees, feeling utterly spent and exhausted. Chaos gently helped him to the chair, and summoned a plate of ambrosia and a cup of nectar. Percy slowly ate him ambrosia, feeling his strength return to him. Chaos, after seating herself, spoke again.

'Ok, so now that's done, I am going to talk about your… situation.' Being too tired to answer verbally, Percy just nodded. 'To start off, you were very lucky. Remember the last time you were in Tatarus?'Percy nodded again. 'Good. Your… recently deceased girlfriend Annabeth was smart, she knew to drink the fire waters of the Phlegethon as soon as you two entered that pit. That makes you invulnerable to the effects of Tartarus forever, sort of like a blessing from the River of Fire. You will need that, since you need to survive down there for a rather long time.' 'How long?' Percy croaked. Chaos looked at him with a tinge of sympathy. 'I can't tell you that. But on the bright side, I can tell you that you will eventually leave the pit. Next, I am giving you these gifts not only to help you survive the pit, but also to face the difficulties after you leave the pit. Also, do not overuse the twin blades of me. As you are still technically a demigod, too much power will burn you up, sort of like what happened a few minutes ago, only you will not survive. Only use them on immortal enemies. Another reason I gave you these two weapons.' She gestured to his wrists. 'Last thing you must know is now you control the symbols of power of the three dead titans, and you must learn to control them.' Chaos opened her mouth, but suddenly her facial features changed to one of horror. 'You must return. Your companions are under attack from Erebus. We will meet again, son of Poseidon. Remember, your mind is your deadliest weapon. Now, wake!' Chaos raised her hand, and Percy felt the world spin until he landed on the dark floor of the armory in Nyx's mansion with a painful grunt. Sound of battle reached his ears, making Percy spring up, despite his body aching all over, and sprinted to the door.

Line break

Percy ran out of the doors of the Nyx Mansion only to see Styx fell under the siege of a group of Cyclops, clubs breaking through her wall of water. Percy leapt forward, the katana appearing in his hand. Landing in front of Styx, he sliced horizontally with a roar, the blade flashing a mix of sea green and purple before decapitating the two leftmost Cyclops and cleaving the remaining three into halves. Spinning the other way, Percy stabbed through the neck of two hellhounds and did a flip over their dissolving bodies, before bringing his new sword down in a vertical arc, slicing an emposai into half. Seeing the sudden appearance of the son of Poseidon, the monsters hastily backed up, snarling as they went. Achilles limped to Styx and helped her up before standing behind Percy, next to the smoldering doors of the mansion. 'Where did you go Percy? We searched the whole mansion and didn't see you even once!' Achilles panted, out of breath after facing half an army of monsters. Before Percy could answer, the monsters parted, forming an aisle. A figure dressed entirely in black with two hellhounds trailing behind him slowly walked forward, clapping as he went.

'The mighty Perseus Jackson. How… delighting is it for you to join us. With Achilles and Lady Styx as well.' The figure mocked, saying the word lady with a clear distaste. 'We heard you defeated three titans and seek refuge with my endearing wife. Now, speaking of which, where is she? And where is that titan… Bob?' Erebus smirked. 'Too sacred? Well I can't blame them. This is but a fraction of our forces, and I would love to see your face when we finally defeat you.' Erebus drew his sword, a hand-and-a-half sword made of pure darkness. 'But first, I will destroy your friends and tear this place to the ground. Attack!' Erebus stepped forwards, ready to charge but suddenly, the area exploded into darkness. It is as if someone poured thousands of gallons of ink down at them, and yet Percy, Achilles and Styx have no problem seeing.

'What is this?' Erebus roared. 'I can't see!' Two figures appeared next to Percy. 'Hello, husband.' Nyx spoke in a cold tone. She raised her hands, and the darkness lifted. 'Can you see me now?' 'You bitch!' Erebus snarled. 'Attack!' The monster army surged forwards, and at that exact moment their left flank burst into chaos. Bob appeared in full silver armor, spinning and stabbing with his spear. 'Go help him, Percy.' Nyx spoke again. 'Leave that bastard of a husband to me.'

Hearing that, Percy ran down the steps of the mansion, katana and wakazashi appearing in hand, and collided with the army. Percy brought his sword up to block the club of a Cyclops, slicing across the throat of another at the same time, before kicking the one-eyed monster in the stomach and spun, impaling the brute with the katana. Percy transformed into a whirlwind of death, not using any of his powers, just relying on years of training and the knowledge given to him by Chaos. However, no matter how many he killed, more seems to take their place. Eventually, Percy began to tire, his strikes becoming less and less efficient, and finally he make a mistake. He kicked a hellhound in the snout, and parried the trident of an emposai, but he reacted too slowly and a Cyclops slammed him with a club, lifting him off the ground. Percy landed on the ground a few meters away with a painful crunch. Groaning, he managed to get back up on his feet, but he felt a massive pain in his midsection, meaning he probably broke a few ribs. Tasting blood in his mouth, he struggled to raise his weapons to defend himself, before another powerful strike relieved him of his weapons. Landing in the dirt once again, he desperately thought of any way to defeat the monsters. The monsters surrounded him, the Cyclops who injured and disarmed him sneered, 'Boss said that he killed three titans. They must have been sleeping!' The monsters nearby jeered and laughed, getting ready for the kill.

Three titans. Titans. Powers. Domains! Percy, thinking hard on what he heard, a desperate method suddenly appeared in his head. He called on his domain of destruction, using the same way as how he uses his water powers. He felt a tug in his gut, and something heavy appeared in his hand. He opened his eyes to see a mace, with 'Destruction' in Greek etched into the handle. Grinning like a madman, he raised the mace, the monsters crying out in alarm, and slammed the weapon into the ground. Then Tartarus exploded.

Line break (sorry…)

Percy awoke in his bed. Feeling a sense of déjà vu, he slipped off the covers and exited the room. Remembering the way that he went, he walked to the balcony where they had breakfast before. The sight before him made his jaw drop.

The previous mountainous terrain had been levelled, reduced to a flat land, with deep cracks appearing in the ground, almost like the land during a severe draught. Craters decorated the wasteland, the largest one being directly in front of him, which looked as if an asteroid crashed into Tartarus. Percy stared at the sight before him, felling utterly shocked.

I didn't do that, did I?

'Sure you did.' Percy whipped around, wakazashi in hand, and pinned the person who just spoke into the floor. Only then he realised he is looking into a pair of onyx coloured eyes. Percy Jackson just pinned Chaos, the creator to the floor with a sword. Percy hastily stood up, pulling Chaos up as he went. 'Sorry Lady Chaos, I didn't mean to…' Chaos waved her hand dismissively. 'There's nothing you need to apologise for Percy. You were in two wars, after all.' At that moment Nyx walked out to the balcony. 'Percy, there you are, I wondered… Mother?' Nyx's jaw dropped. 'What are you doing here?' 'I am here to help train Perseus with his new powers. After causing that,' Chaos gestured to the destruction behind them, 'I'm positive that training Percy is extremely important, simply to avoid him from doing this again.' Percy decided to speak up. 'Nyx, where is Achilles, Styx and Bob? Are they ok?' 'Achilles is currently passed out in his room, Styx is back in her river, both recovering from their injuries. Iapetus, or Bob, is back in the underworld. Hades requested his existence as there is currently an uprising in the underworld, led by Minos.' Chaos swiped her hand, and a portal appeared.

'And now, Perseus, you must train. My daughter, would you kindly accompany us? It has been a long time, after all.' The three stepped through the portal, and appeared in a palace. Not just any palace, Chaos' palace. Percy was blown away by the sheer beauty of the palace, and he can see that Nyx feels the same way as well. To simply put it, this place is the most amazing place Percy has been in. Ever. Olympus was pretty high up the list for sure, but Percy never liked the overuse of gold there. Too flashy. Here, however, is magnificent. Huge archways and halls stretched onwards to their left and right, but it uses a plethora of colour combinations, to give them a sense of grandness but not showing off. Chaos turned to the shocked Primordial and demigod with an evil look.

'And now, training begins.'