Hey, hey, hey! I'm back! I know my last chapter wasn't the best but I promise to make up for it in this one. Hope you all enjoy!
15 - Piper
Piper woke up cold and exposed. She looked down upon her body to realize that she was completely stark naked, which totally embarrassed her.
Piper looked around her, trying to make out where she was. She deduced that she was in some sort of throne room, as in front of her was a massive throne, made out of obsidian and embroided with many precious jewels and interwoven in the obsidian was a beautiful star pattern. The chair was so beautiful, Piper couldn't help but walk forward to examine it. As Piper got closer she noticed that it wasn't just a pattern, but there were thousands of tiny stars, twinkling on the obsidian as if they were in the night sky.
Piper still wasn't exactly too sure of where she was, in fact she didn't even know if she was dead or alive. Last thing she knew was that the giant Tityos had thrown her out of a window and she had been crushed. Upon waking, Piper had nearly bled out and then she had betrayed the seven so that she could save her friends. Now she was sitting naked in a throne room over-looking a city below. Piper was wandering about her friends and how they were doing before she heard the voice. To be more precise, Tityos' voice.
"Piper, it is very nice of you to join us" Tityos said, before Piper could turn around. Immediately she covered her body with her hands. She didn't want this giant to see her without any clothes on. "Here, It's a little chilly, won't you agree? I brought these, thinking you would like some clothes to wear. Don't worry, I'll turn around and look away, while you dress" Tityos said, before handing her the pile of clothes.
"Before I do anything for you, I want to know where I am" Piper asked suspicious and very wary about the giant and what he was planning. "Well Piper, indeed that is a good question. Take a look out the window and tell me what you see" Tityos exclaimed before sitting down on the throne. "Well, I can see the golden gate bridge from here" Piper murmured. "And where is the Golden Gate Bridge?" Tityos asked. "In San-Francisco, where else? Piper muttered, starting to put things together in her head. "This is Mt Tam, isn't it? This is where the titans old base was, wasn't it? Wait, the front doors" Piper shouted as she ran down the corridor exited.
Piper reached the front door and looked through it. What she saw made her want to be sick. Inside was a swirling green vortex that was churning around and around, seemingly never ending. These were the doors of death!
Everything had snapped together in her head now. The reason why San-Francisco was dangerous for Demi-Gods wasn't because of the Titan base. Well it sort of was, but only because it housed the doors of death. That was the reason San-Francisco was off limits, not because of Camp Jupiter, because of the doors of death. Piper had discovered something no one else had ever realized before, even though it was lying in plain sight.
This was odd though, why had Nico told them that the mortal side of the doors of death were located in The House Of Hades? Before Piper could ask this Tityos had already answered. "That indeed is a good question. I don't believe he told you that to make sure the quest would fail, in fact I think there was a higher force at play here. I believe someone may have tampered with your friend Nico's memories. I really do sympathize for him. Being stuck in the Lotus hotel for as long as he was after Zeus killed his mother, than losing his sister and then he gets stuffed inside a jar, I really do feel for him.
Piper stared at Tityos in total disbelief. "Just because I'm a giant, doesn't mean I don't have feelings or emotions. I just choose to mask them, that way they don't interfere with my business. If I didn't I wouldn't be emotionally stable considering the fact I was stuck down in Tartarus for millennia, tied to a post and constantly having vultures eating my liver is enough to make a giant cry" Tityos said.
"Please tell me, how bad is Tartarus. I want to know what Percy and Annabeth are going through" Piper asked while shuddering. "Tartarus is nothing like the legends claim. Tartarus is far from the legends. It's like your there and then you take a few steps and you're not, you end up elsewhere. It is different to everyone. It reflects your greatest fears and turns your deepest and darkest secrets against you. It's enough to drive you crazy. It really is. I know this as I experienced this first hand. I owe everything to Gaea who freed me from that damnation."
Piper shuddered and an ominous wind blew in from the doors. Piper was in two frames of mind at the moment. She wanted to shut the doors right here and now, but deep down she knew that if she did none of her friends would survive this war, Tityos would make sure of that. And besides, if she left them open Annabeth and Percy would be able to return. The thought of that filled Piper with so much joy that a tear slid down her cheek.
"Piper, I promise you that if you help us, your friends will make it out of Tartarus alive. If you don't I can see them leaving, just not living. If you help me, you and your friends will be treated as gods when Gaea re-creates the world. We will rule the world together. All you have to do for that is go back to your friends and lead them to Greece, by which time it will be too late to shut the doors."
"All right, on one condition. After this you will leave us alone forever and won't bother us ever again" Piper said. "You have my word. Now it's time for you to return to your friends. Don't fail me. If you do the consequences will be grave" Tityos warned forebodingly.
That was it. Piper was going to betray her friends. No matter how much she was screaming at herself not to do it, there was no turning back. She had already turned to the dark side and there was no coming back from it.
Hope this chapter and the next few ones coming up are enough to make up for the previous chapter. Review Challenge: what do you guys think made Nico tell them the doors of death were in Greece and not on Mt Tam?
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