"Come on guys," I said. "There's no time to lose."

The doors opened and I stepped out onto the cold and dark ground. There was an unnatural breeze that sent shivers down my spine. We looked at a sign that said WELCOME TO TARTARUS. Oh joy, I thought. Here we go.

Alexander ~

We walked through the gates of Tartarus. All I had to say about the place was that it was a dark, gloomy, and bottomless pit. I could see all those who have been banished by the gods chained to the walls. Tartarus was nothing compared to the Fields of Punishment. It made the Fields of Punishment looked like a playground. Suddenly I heard something, someone speaking to me.

"Come," a voice croaked. "I know where the lost goddess you are seeking is."

I followed the voice, with Thalia and Nico at my heels.

"You have came, good," the god said.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"That's Koios," Thalia answered. "The Titan of intelligence, father of Leto and Asteria."

"That is correct, daughter of Zeus."

"Is this some kind of trick or something where I unleash you from Tartarus?"

Koios laughed. "No. You cannot actually do that. Only those who have banished me have the power to release me. I'm different from my brothers. They are stronger in physical strength, while I am stronger mentally."

"Ok …" I said. "So you said that you know where the lost goddess is."

"Indeed."

"Can you tell us where she is?"

"You should seek the answer yourself," Koios replied.

"Then this makes you no different from the other Titans. Only caring for your own interests, concerned about no one else. Thalia said.

"You're accusing me?" Koios questioned.

"You fought against the gods even though you knew that Kronos cared about no one but himself. You knew and you fought on his side."

Koios remained silent for a while, then cleared his throat and spoke again. "The goddess is not here in Tartarus, although she is very close. I doubt even the son of Hades knows that there are many passages in the Underworld that only the lord of the underworld knows of. I can do nothing more but point you to the right direction. You must go to the end of the River Styx and search. If you follow my words, then the path will be obvious. However, I must warn you all though, there are great dangers and obstacles for you. I'm afraid that my brothers have been stirring lately. You must be quick though; this quest is something that even the Olympians themselves depend on.

"What do you mean?" Thalia asked.

"There are ancient laws that I must follow. I have already given you more information that I was allowed to. I hope that has proven that I am quite different from my brothers. Now, you must be on with your quest. Farewell."

We nodded solemnly and walked back to the gates of Tartarus that only we could go in and out of. I couldn't stop thinking about how bad Tartarus was, and we've only been there for about half an hour. I wonder what the Titans and those banished by the gods felt like, I mean they've spent eons there. Nico who was yanking on my arm continuously, interrupted my thoughts.

"What Nico?" I yelled.

"Shadow travel us to the end of the River Styx, I'm still exhausted from our last shadow travel spree."

"Fine" I grumbled. "Grab onto me, both of you."

They did as they were told, and we soon stood at the banks of the Styx.

"Alright!" Nico said. "Let's go look for this secret passage that even we don't know of!"

I looked around. Koios had said that the path would be obvious.

"There!" Thalia said, pointing to a small, narrow path.

"Be careful," I said. "Koios said that we would face many dangers."

"Got it," Thalia said confidently, leading us down the path. Suddenly, she stopped and I almost crashed into her. Thank Zeus that I didn't, otherwise I wouldn't have any hair or eyebrows left if Thalia gave me some of her electroshock therapy.

"Why'd you stop?" Nico asked.

"The path leads to two ways," Thalia said. "One to the left and one to the right. Which side should we go to?"

"Easy!" Nico said. "Ennie meanie …"

Ugh! Does he have to act any more childish than that?

"You know, we should just randomly choose one side and hope for the best," I said.

"Fine," Thalia said and proceeded to walk down to the left side.

We trudged down the path that seemed to be never ending looking around for that black alter that the goddess was supposedly on according to my dream. I guess I was too concentrated on finding the goddess because I suddenly heard Nico shout out for help behind me. I spun around to see Nico fighting off a hellhound. I turned my head to look around to see if we could escape. No such luck, all I could see were two more hellhounds, and a drakon that surrounded us. Oh gods. The drakon opened its mouth and sent a fireball my way, missing me by centimeters, as I dived out of the way. I took my bow that was strapped onto my back and sent ten arrows flying at the drakon. The drakon didn't even flinch, as the arrows fell off his invincible armor of skin. Thalia had already given up long ago with shooting arrows at the drakon, she held her spear in one hand, Aegis in the other, and charged the drakon. The drakon however, had already anticipated her move, and swiped its tail at Thalia, knocking Aegis out of her hands. I watched with awe as Thalia yelled in rage, and stabbed the drakon in the eye with her spear. The drakon roared with pain and thrashed with pain. Wow, I thought. Thalia can actually take that drakon down by herself. To make her job easier however, I twisted the ring I wore on my right hand and waited a few seconds before it turned into my Stygian iron sword. Good, let's finish this thing once and for all.

The drakon I believe thought otherwise, because it roared again, angrier than ever. I looked at Thalia with his only eye, and began to suck in giant breaths. My brain had just enough time to process what the drakon was going to do.

"No!" I yelled. "Thalia run!"

Obviously, being a stubborn daughter of Zeus, Thalia stood her ground. There's no time for this I thought as I jumped in front of Thalia as the drakon released another fireball, this time hitting me square in the chest, sending me flying across the path. I just had enough time to send a prayer to my dad before I blacked out.

I apologize for the long wait. Thank you all for your patience! I promise that I'll try to update asap, but you know how it is with homework, tests, and exams.

Special thanks to Child of the Moon's Shadow, I have to say that you're one of the reasons why I continued to write this. Btw, Nico says that he hopes that he made you laugh this chapter. Adios!

~the ghost king