Well well well... here I am, back with chapter 17. Prepare yourself for some heartbreak, tears, excitement, jaw droppings, anger, joy, and pretty much every emotion because this one is a trip on the feels train.
But actually, hold on to your f*cking hat because you are in for a ride.
Anyway, I wrote this one on my new macbook pro that I got for my 15th birthday 2 weeks ago. I hope you like this next chapter, because it is insanely twisty. I will also be posting more frequently because I have more opportunities to write with my laptop available.
I want to apologize once more for taking a very long time to post that last chapter. Get mad at me, do whatever you want, but please, stay tuned. This story is the best I have ever written and is truly a blessing for me to have so much support, so thank you for that. This chapter is a little short, but has a lot of content. I should be posting chapter 18 in the next week. It will be one of the most intense, combat filled and twisty chapter yet, so prepare yourselves.
Now, On with the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HoO, I only own my OCs and plot ideas.
Annabeth and her group of campers and hunters trudged along through the pit of Tartarus. They were three hours in to the grueling ordeal the pit had given them, and had already lost two lives. Grace, one of the hunters was killed almost immediately when they entered the pit. A group of four small Wyrms ambushed them and she fell into the Abyss seconds after the fight had begun. The threat of the Wyrms was extinguished soon after, but Jake Mason's throat had been slit by a honed blade made out of Primordial Obsidian. However, these were the first enemies Tartarus had thrown at them the entire time they were there. The only danger before the Wyrms was the risk of falling off the treacherous pathway.
Nico said a prayer for Jake Mason, making sure his soul would not be consumed by the pit and would be transported back to the Underworld safely. He turned to Annabeth, who was deep in thought.
"Annabeth, we need to be more cautious. Those.. things came out of nowhere," he exclaimed, but was met with a mute response. "Annabeth... ANNABETH!" The daughter of Athena finally turned to Nico, snapping out of her trance.
"Yeah? Oh, sorry Nico. I've just been... distracted. That's all," she replied quickly. Nico pulled her aside.
"It's what Percy said, isn't it? It's getting to you. You need to take your mind off that, and focus on the task at hand. We are sitting ducks out here in the open, and we need you, someone who has navigated these blasted place before, Annabeth. Just tell me what's bothering you," he voiced to her. Annabeth winced at the thought, before she began telling Nico what happened.
Three Hours Prior
"HA! You thing you can free the father of all monsters, to fight for you?! You must be insane, Wise Girl, to think the Storm Lord, who almost dethroned the Olympians twice, single-handedly I might add, will devote his allegiance to Olympus?" he questioned, a humorous look on his face. He was still on the same ledge at the bottom of the pit he was trapped in, his powers stripped and his clothes tattered. Annabeth looked down on him, a look of pity in her eyes. Her friends looked the same way, except for Clarisse, who looked on with shame.
"If you are just going to gloat, why did Hades say we needed your guidance?" she asked. Percy laughed maniacally for several minutes before wiping tears out of his eyes.
"Guidance? Why would you need guidance in a place you've been before, Annabeth? I'm here to strike a deal. If Zade is freed from his resting place in Elysium, and granted life once more, everyone of you will die. Each hour in the pit, one of you in this squadron will be murdered, captured, scarred, you name it. Just something to consider," he warned. Annabeth looked on quizzically, in utmost shock.
Percy grinned sadistically, looking at his former friends.
"Yes, Grover, Nico, and Annabeth. That includes you three as well. I'm a man of my word," he threatened, grinning an even wider smile. His dark eyes swirled with evil and hate. Grover stepped forward, tears in his eyes.
"How can you do this, Percy? After all of our friendships with you, all the quests we did together, and all the good you brought to Olympus, I don't see how you can-"
"SILENCE SATYR! Do not rant to me that I turned my back on you. You all turned your back on me. You failed to defend me from Zeus accusations. I hold no love for you now." Percy glared murderously at the congregation of the heroes above his prison. Annabeth still looked quizzically at Percy, just remembering a question.
"How did you die?" Percy scowled. Travis and Connor Stoll thanked Annabeth for asking, as they did not want to be the ones to spill the beans. Tartarus' Champion sighed, reliving the events.
"I had learned that my friend Adrastos killed Zade, and in my anger I attacked him. We fought, and after several minutes of clashing, he distracted me with a cheap shot, and broke my ribs. He then brought his mace down on my skull, shattering it and killing me instantly," he responded. Annabeth raised an eyebrow.
"If that is so, then how come our scouts saw your body walking around a military camp full of monsters?" she asked disbelievingly. Percy's eyes widen in shock, before a look of realization spread across his face. A wry smile formed on his face, before he began laughing with confidence.
"In that case it is all over. We have won. There is nothing you can do to stop us now. I finally see what Erebus told me all that time ago... my death was essential," he started saying joyfully to himself. Clarisse looked at Annabeth, their leader.
"Annabeth, give it a rest, his mind is lost. There's nothing left of the old Percy, let's just get a move on and be done with it," she advised. Annabeth just held up a hand, wanting him to finish what he was saying. Percy kept on muttering something in ancient Greek: ανέλθει στο σκοτάδι, which she translated to as rise to darkness.
"He is risen. It is over. Erebus has taken my body as his incarnate form, and with his newfound power he will destroy you all. Good riddance, my friends. I'll see you all in, well, hell... as they say. Aha.. AHAHAHAHAHAH!" Percy laughed with malice, disturbing the campers as they began to walk away from the true hell-hole Percy was stuck in. As they lumbered away from the pit, they could hear the tortured cries from Percy, the roar of the monsters at the bottom of his prison, and the screeching voice of Alecto, scolding Percy, just like Mrs. Dodds used to do.
He's turned into Luke... Annabeth thought, as tears welled into her eyes.
Present Time: Tartarus
"I just feel like our task is in vain. Erebus is a Primordial God, if not the most powerful child of Chaos. Gaea didn't even take an incarnate form when we fought her, it was only her Giant children whom we had to spar with," she vented out. Nico slapped her across the face.
"Ow, what the fu-" she started, but Nico cut her off.
"Don't you dare think like that. We are going to free Typhon, he will help us destroy Olympus, and we are going to get Percy back. We have to believe it will work. We have to," he reassured. Annabeth smiled thanks to him, and then turned back to her fatigued friends.
"Friends, comrades, listen up! We already have two victims of death. We are in our third hour. If this is linked to what Percy said, then that means Zade has been freed by Hades, upon Zeus request at the council meeting. One of us will die in the next 60 minutes, so we better hurry the hell up and free this son of a bitch Typhon! Tartarus is waiting for our deaths. I say, we make him wait a little longer!" she yelled out. Clarisse, Nico, Grover, Tyson, Connor, Travis, Phoebe, and the other hunter Mia joined her in a cheer. The began to hustle quicker into the pit, dreading not what Percy said. They were already pretty deep, but they still had a ways to go. It began to get to the point where there was no light at all. The only sounds of life were the tortured cries of the souls sentenced to eternal damnation in Tartarus; the Depths of Hell.
For the next 45 minutes they continued the trek further into darkness, as a nervous tension swept over them all. None of them had perished yet, which either meant Zade was not free, or that one of them was going to die in the next 15 minutes. Annabeth noticed this, and was about boost their morale when Clarisse, who had taken point, yelled something.
"Hold up!" Everyone stopped and drew their weapons. Annabeth went up to inspect what was going on, and realized why Clarisse was so upset. The pathway stopped, and all their was was a sheer cliff, leading down straight to the bottom of the abyss. "Annabeth, the pathway stops, but... there is a way down." She gestured to the side of the perimeter of Tartarus. There on the wall was a ladder, carved into the stone. It seemed to go on endlessly until the point where they could not see the bottom.
"We go down?" Tyson asked nervously. Connor said, "Yeah, do we have to go down that sketchy ladder?" Many people voiced their agreement, but Nico stopped them.
"Would you rather have everyone on the surface of the Earth die because you were too scared to climb down a ladder?" he asked. Tyson shook his head and stuck he chest out, showing he was not afraid. Connor gulped, shutting up. Nico grinned, and gestured for Annabeth to proceed. She nodded, jumped onto the ladder, and began climbing down until they lost sight of her. Nico smiled at Clarisse. "Shall we?" he asked. Clarisse smirked at him, and jumped onto the ladder fearlessly. Nico followed suit, and soon after, everyone was on the ladder climbing down.
For the next four hours and thirty minutes, they climbed down the ladder, relieved that none of them had suffered any deaths. The only reason they could see in the darkness was because Hades has given them a slight blessing of darkness, so they could navigate the pit without having to use any sort of flashlight. When they were all congregated at the bottom, they got ready to proceed towards a deep, bellowing roar, full of the sounds of thunder and winds. They knew that was Typhon, but some of them never got to see the Storm Lord, because at that moment, Phoebe's scream was heard from the back of the group. They turned around, only to gasp at the sight.
Phoebe, Mia, and Grover were all held up by their throats, choking and struggling to break free. Large, purple hands gripped them, squeezing the life out of them. They wore armor only on their heads shoulders, and on their waist and thighs. They stood about 15 feet in height. The one holding Phoebe wielded a serrated, massive two handed battle axe, designed for one purpose; tearing flesh from bone. The other two wielded spears. The larger of the three, the one holding Phoebe, stared menacingly at the campers. All three of their eyes blazed green fire, especially the one holding Grover, who seemed Psychopathic is he looked like he was enjoying the pain he was inflicting on the satyr. Mia body was limp from the third, more reserved one, who was not as large but seemed just as threatening, in a different way.
They squeezed their hands simultaneously, and the snapping of bones echoed throughout the Chasm, Annabeth gasped. The three of them were dead instantly, and were thrown aside like rag dolls. Grover's body turned into a shrub; a Laurel, to be exact. The largest of the three, their leader, stepped forward.
"We, are tonight's entertainment! I am Brutallus, and Azarad, Trelopades, and I will be here to provide pleasure to ourselves as we satisfy our aching psychopathic minds with the actions of killing you all!" he roared out, as Azarad through a spear, that impaled Connor Stoll through the neck. The weapon was thrown with such power, that it burrowed itself in the stone behind the son of Hermes. His body rolled over. He had died almost instantly.
Brutallus split his axe in two, and through the one in his right at at Clarisse with the utmost accuracy and precision. The axe pierced its way through the darkness, its sharp physique whizzing through the air. Clarisse just managed to get out of the way, but it still happened to slice an immense gash in her side. Annabeth stood there, paralysed at the events that just took place. Phoebe, Mia, and her best friend Grover were dead. Clarisse was mortally wounded, and she just realized that their death toll was catching up to the time they were down there. She gulped, knowing this fight would be the hardest they had ever faced.
Liberty State Park:
"My Lord, the armies are ready to march," Adrastos said. Erebus turned around, and Adrastos' eyes widened once more. Percy's once handsome look was beginning to fade as Erebus' capturing of his body had begun to take a toll on his party. He jet black hair began to develop gray, and his face looked twisted and evil. His eyes were still all black, as they were a translation of darkness through Erebus, but they seemed full of a deeper evil and hatred for the world. Erebus lumbered towards Adrastos awkwardly in Percy's body, still adjusting to the transition from spirit form to incarnate form.
"Good Adrastos. Let us begin the march. I see that Evan's, Tristan and Trinity's, Sonny's, and Caitlin's armies are here, but where are they?" he asked with an annoyed look on his face. Adrastos paled.
"That's the news I was going to get to. Last night, each of their armies were within two miles of this base camp. Apparently, they reported that they were all assassinated by immensely powerful, humanoid beings. There were five total, and they hit all four of their armies, killing the leaders with ease, and almost perfect stealth. A Wyrm, I believe his name was Sylran, was the one who identified them as 3 large men, one woman, and one giant man. They each had different weapons and were near silent in their actions. Each of the leader had a large "C," carved across their torso, and had slit throats," he reported. Erebus, took in the information calmly.
"At first I was wondering how my best assassins and strongest fighter and archers were murdered, without putting up a fight. It must be who I thought would rise due to that ancient prophecy," he started. "Nephlims..." he spat with distaste. Adrastos cocked his head to the side.
"Excuse me, sir?" he asked, pondering what his leader had just said. Erebus waved his hand, dismissing his standing leader of the army. Adrastos bowed, and exited the tent, thinking on what the Primordial Lord of Darkness had just said. What Nephlims were or meant, he had no idea, but he did know he would find out soon.
Tartarus:
"Run! Follow me! Now is our chance, hurry!" Annabeth yelled to her fellow teammates. Clarisse, in a dying effort had managed to amputate one of Trelopades' legs, causing the Wrath-Bringer to yell in immense pain and disappear into a bunch of bats. She bled out soon after. Travis Stoll had also heroically tackled Azarad down a crevasse just after receiving a fatal wound to his neck. Azarad had sliced his jugular vein, and in his last moments he took out his celestial bronze bombs, through them at the Wrath-Bringer, and after they went off, tackled the beast down a crevasse, and they both disappeared into the chasm below.
Nico had managed to blind Brutallus, who in his rage of seeing two of his brothers incapacitated, did not notice Nico appear out of a shadow behind him. The son of Hades took out his Stygian Iron blade, and climb up his back, proceeding to stabbing out his left eye.
Nico had managed to blind Brutallus temporarily, as he was a Wrath-Bringer and immortal being, as were the other two Wrath-Bringers who would reform to full health very soon. Nico managed to shadow travel to Annabeth, who had escorted Tyson, and Thalia down into Typhon's prison. They opened a Celestial Bronze door, put the three of them stopped on the other side.
In this room stood the largest, most terrifying storm cloud they had ever seen. It had almost reptilian skin, and golden ichor flowed out of its many wounds. But what surprised them was not the monster itself. It was the jailers.
The Four Titans of the North, East, South, and West, continued to torture and subdue their younger sibling. Hyperion, Krios, Iapetus, and Koeios, surrounded the monster, until the Titan of the East and of light noticed the demigods at the entrance.
"Brothers! We have guests!" he shouted. The four Titans walked towards the demigods, their weapons raised. Typhon roared so loud that the demigods' ears rang.
"What makes you worthy enough to have me not gut you right now?" Iapetus the Piercer asked. Annabeth gulped and stepped forward, putting on a face of courage in front of 5 children of Gaea and Ouranous.
"Two things. First, we have come with a proposition from Olympus that will free you from Tartarus and will have you freed from torture for good. And second, because like I said, if you were to kill me, you would be kept here forever and enslaved by Erebus and Tartarus," she replied, putting the Titan of the West in his place. Krios looked confused.
"So you're telling my that two Primordial gods are rising and are threatening the world?" he asked. Thalia nodded grimly.
"We have lost 8 members of our task force down in this abyss. All we ask is that you ally yourselves with Olympus for this war, help us defeat the Primordials, and then you may return to whatever place you want to live above the surface of the earth," she proposed. "What say you?" They looked at each other. Koeios, being a titan of intelligence, stepped forward, and opened his mouth. But his answer was drowned out from the growl of Typhon, who once again shook the room with his booming voice.
Koieos looked up at Typhon angrily.
"Why are you the jailers of Typhon, might I ask?" Annabeth questioned. Hyperion scowled.
"The Olympians put us in Typhon's imprisonment as torture for us. We have had to fight him for 5 straight years after the Titan War in order to not fade because of his sheer power," Hyperion replied.
"So what do you say? What is your response?" Nico asked.
"What about me?! Aren't I the one you came for, puny mortals? I should crush you right now!" came a booming voice from above. Typhon was squatting on his storm legs, glaring daggers at Annabeth. Annabeth noticed that Typhon's face morphed into her deepest fears, then back into a dark, fiery being full of hatred for all things Olympus-related.
"A-actually we came here for you," Nico rasped out, also in pure terror from the Storm Lord's powerful, fear ensuing aura.
"I will join you, demigods. But know that as soon as I have finished crushing my uncles, I will tear down Olympus brick by brick myself!" he boomed. Annabeth smiled inwardly. The Titans nodded.
"We will help as well. This offer is too good to refuse. Now.. do you have a way out of here?" Krios asked. Annabeth nodded. They opened the door, but were meant with an evil voice.
"Now where do you think you're going?" Brutallus asked, his bleeding eye only adding to his rage. He looked smug until the wall of the prison smashed open, and his siblings appeared from out of it. Brutallus was very intelligent, and knew when a fight was left unfought. He could easily defeat the demigods and Titans, as they were weak, but Typhon himself would be the one enemy who could but up a fight, and possibly defeat him. He scowled in annoyance. He was too angry for reasoning, and he charged enemy, but did not make it even two feet forward.
An electrical blade was through his chest. Brutallus' body pulsed with electricity, before he disappeared away. The blade clattered on the ground, but then quickly found its way back into its owners hand.
"Let us go!" Typhon roared, eager to escape the pit, but Annabeth was too shocked to respond. A blonde haired boy with electric blue eyes stepped forward, a grin stretched across his face.
"Well, did you miss me?" Came the voice of Zade.
Wow. So many twists and so much anarchy and mayhem I don't even know what to say. What's your response on Zade's return? Upset with the outcome? Happy? shocked? loved the chapter? hated it? review and give me your feedback! It is very helpful and motivates me to write and helps me know what to look out for in the future.
When I'm writing Evil Percy, and how I have been writing all the evil things in this story is by listening to a composition by Hans Zimmer. Not just any composition, but the Joker's main theme from the Dark Knight, which just triggers my evil, sadistic side and inspires me to write from the views of a madman. I have been doing that the 7 months the story has been active, and it has worked pretty well. If any of you are writing Dark Percy or evil stories, try that for inspiration
Stay tuned for more.
