Chapter 18- Change (Deftones)

(Third Person POV)

Moving as quickly as he could, the weakened son of Poseidon moved to the other side of the rotunda, throwing Riptide at the Minotaur. For once Percy's aim was true, and the blade buried itself up to the hilt in the monster's forehead. Fearing for the blades safety, He pulled it back to him before it could melt due to the lava that the monster was made out of. Unfortunately, it seemed that all Percy had accomplished by hitting it in the head with the thrown Riptide was piss it off, as it glared at him with flame filled eyes.

Rearing its massive head back, it let loose a massive torrent of flames at Percy. Rolling to the side, he barely managed to dodge the burst of flames. quickly standing, he ran forward a slashed between the beasts legs before turning around behind it and with two quick swipes, left two massive gashes in its back.

With a roar the minotaur spun around, smacking the son of Poseidon in the chest. The force of the blow causing him to fly backwards and slam his back into a pillar on the edge of the rotunda.

"Gah!"

With a cry, he crumpled to the ground. While Percy was trying to get back on his feet, the monster staggered forward preparing to char-broil the young demigod. As it grew closer, the sky grew dark and rain began to fall.

(Thalia POV)

I had no where I was, or how I got there. Looking around all I could see was blindingly white light all around me. For a moment I thought that maybe, I had died. And then I remembered the trip I took a while back to see Elysium.

"So, if I'm not dead," I murmured to myself, "Where am I?

"Well, your dreaming, of course."

Turning around to face the person that had spoken, I spotted a little girl in a red and white dress sitting in a chair that hadn't been there before.

"Hello, Thalia," She began with a smile. I wasn't sure what it was about this little kid but she was really creeping me out.

"What do you think of my home? I believe the mortals call it, 'The White Room'? No Idea why, but your kind does some rather odd things occasionally."

"Mortals? So, are you a goddess?"

"No," She replied, "I am something much more."

(Third Person POV)

As the rain splashed on the weakened son of Poseidon, he felt strength surge back into his limbs just in time to roll away from the molten hoof before it could crush him. Once Percy had managed to get some distance from the massive monster, he noticed that the rain was evaporating when it got near the minotaur. Which was to be expected considering the minotaur is made of lava. However, it also appeared to be getting slower, and Percy definitely noticed that the air was significantly cooler.

Playing on a hunch, he concentrated on the storm trying to will it to be stronger. To his immense surprise, it actually worked. The winds grew wilder, the rain fell harder and at a much more rigorous pace, and within moments Percy became the eye of his very own hurricane. raising riptide with both hands. He charged the minotaur with the full force of a hurricane.

Slashing and stabbing every inch he could reach, Percy put everything he had left into finishing the fight as quickly as possible. The effort he was putting into the storm was draining his strength much faster than the rain could restore it. Which meant, he could only keep up the hurricane for a few more moments at best.

Drawing all of his power in for one final blow, he pulled Riptide back aiming to split the monstrous minotaur down the middle. However, the instant before the attack could connect, Percy's concentration broke as the remainder of his power drained away. Unfortunately, the monster managed to block the weak slash and countered with a full power punch to the gut, lifting the son of Poseidon of the ground. While he hung helpless in the air, the Hellish Minotaur began to beat him mercilessly with all four of his massive arms. Simultaneously burning and beating the defenseless Demigod, until he hit the ground and was kicked across the rotunda.

Dragging one more ragged breath, the darkness of unconsciousness took him.

(Nico POV)

Batting aside another one of her brood, before slashing it into pieces and turning to the next weak creature and stabbing it in the face. Unfortunately, that allowed another of Scylla's Brood to get behind me and it slashed across my back with one of its legs. Flinching from the sudden pain in my back, I turned about and slashed the sneaky monster in two, before turning my attention to the last creature. A quick stroke of my blade and it faded from existence. Taking a moment to breathe, I readied myself for the mother's attack.

EEEEERRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAHHHH!

With a massive roar it made to smash me into the ground with its claw. However, just before impact, I dove into the shadow it made with its arm, and reappeared out of the shadow on its neck, the one cast by its chin. Using my power over darkness, I used the shadow to anchor my feet to the side of its neck. Acting quickly, I slashed at its exposed chin, leaving bloody gashes all over the tender flesh.

With a squeal of pain, it brought its fist up to bash me while I clung to its throat. waiting till the last moment before shadow traveling back to the ground below, landing just in time to watch Scylla punch herself in the neck. Momentarily debilitated from its own strike, I drew back Apelpsiao behind my head with both hands.

"Skia..." I called while gathering all of my power into the blade.

Taking a step forward, while rechecking my aim, I forced every shadow even remotely near this battle to my sword. This would end it. It had to.

"KATHETOS!" I roared slashing forward with all of my might. The attack rushed forward, a deadly arch of condensed shadow, far larger and faster than the last one I used.

BOOOOMMM!

With a loud crash, Skia Kathetos connected with Scylla's chest, and the ginormous monster clung to the side of the rotunda with all of its might, for fear of being shoved off. It was a good thing because the force behind my attack didn't lessen when the mother monster stopped being pushed backwards, causing the wave of shadow the dig into her flesh, and blood to splash out as the attack attempted to cut her in two. With one last screech, My Skia Kathetos cut right through Scylla and with a sickening squelch, the two halves of her body fell in opposite directions off the side of the cliff.

With a self-satisfied smirk, I entered into the bliss of unconsciousness.

(Third Person POV)

With slow, lumbering steps, the Hellish Minotaur crossed the rotunda to finish off the downed Demigod. although the rain and weakened it greatly, it was still hot enough that it melted the stone underneath it slightly. When it finally got only ten feet from Percy's vulnerable form, a harsh bluish white light exploded from the Demigod's prone form.

As the light blast towards the sky, the ground of the rotunda started to frost and the force of the power created an incredible whirlwind that was causing the minotaur to slide backwards. The monster himself was not unaffected by the sudden temperature drop, either. The steady cold was causing its body to become more solid by the moment. Slowly, the sheer cold was changing the beasts body from bubbly lava to frail obsidian.

However, if the changes happening outside of the torrent of energy seemed amazing, the ones happening inside of it were nothing short of astounding. While Percy's hair was being blasted upward by the force of the energy it, froze by ice and forcibly spiked up. His shoulders, back, and chest became covered in thick ice armor, and massive ice wings formed off of the ice covering his back. The ice crept down from his shoulders and formed sleek gauntlets just above his hands. Jagged shards of ice began to gather on his heel and lower legs, forming rugged spaulders going from his heel to his knees. Even Riptide was not spared from an icy transformation.

The standard Greek longsword was covered in ice in such a way that it turned it a totally different style of sword; a great sword. Ice formed in a way that not only made the blade longer and thicker but extended the hilt as well. As the burst of pure power died down, Riptide maintained a healthy glow of blue white energy around the icy blade.

GGGGRRRRRRRRRAAAAAHHHHHHHHRRRHHHHAAAAHHH!

And with a bestial roar, very unlike the son of Poseidon, all of the ice and called around him, that wasn't a part of his transformation, was drawn into it Riptide. As the glow around his sword grew even stronger, his eyes opened to reveal that they had change into a glowing icy blue color, rather than the usual sea green. After a few moments, he pulled his sword back in a baseball batters stance before swinging forward with all of his might in the direction of the minotaur. Although the sword wasn't quite long enough to reach the monster, the moment it became directly pointing at the beast, the icy energy contained in the blade blasted into the chest of the Hellish Minotaur. The instant the energy connected, the minotaur shattered and the power exploded outward and enveloped the entire rotunda for an instant. Then, darkness.

(A/N):

Hey everyone! I know, Its been a while. I said I was going to update at least once every two months, but honestly? I have had NO free time. In fact today was my first real day off work in forever, and that's only because I had court this morning. But, I digress. SO Here's a new chapter as a form of apology! I've been preparing for this particular chapter for a long time now, even though its so short, I just feel that its has a lot of content to it that's going to be important later on. I was tempted to put more to it, but I'm kind of a big fan of cliff-hangers. Anyway, hope you enjoy it and, as always, please review! Have a good day and good-bye!