Alright, sorry for the wait, but here it is, as an apology, I WILL be publishing another chapter before the end of next wee, like on tuesday or something. These chapters are sitting comfily at 2k or so words, which is a BBIIIIIIGGGGG difference from 5k, very easy to edit indeed. But that said, this one in particular might have some misspellings or grammar issues because of it's unusual diction, but bare with me, and if you so wish, tell me about them and I'll be glad to fix it.

Anyway, I really do hope you all enjoy this, the action will start off soon, I promise.

Decent Into Darkness

Percy was the first to recompose himself, he blinked twice and smile embarrassingly.

"Marriage?" No one spoke; no one breathed leaving the boy to search for his answer in Zeus's eyes. The same frown that was always place on his lips and dazzling blue eyes that told no lies, either that or they were the greatest liars to ever live. Percy turned to Thalia, who clearly was desperately trying to understand what was going on. Her eyes met with Percy's and then she finally figured it out, the light of realization shine in her stormy eyes.

A ghost of a smile placed on Percy's lips as he anticipated Thalia's charming smile, however what came was a glare, such a hate-filled glare that chilled Percy's bones.

The ceremony continued, as one should. Lord Zeus gave a long and drawn out speech of their past and futures and how they were supposedly the "Key to peace and tranquility." Then came the actual engagement; Poseidon rose from the crowd and stepped towards Percy, carrying a bronze box. Within, was a badge the size of a Percy's hand, a greenish blue color with two horses on either side of a shining pearl.

As engagement, both partners are given a jewel, usually a badge for royalties, by their parents then when the marriage day comes, the two are suppose to exchange their jewels.

Every time Percy would try for a smile Thalia would turn away, not once did they even so much as look at each other. Finally the ceremony was over and the crowd went on to enjoying themselves, a small amount of people came to congratulate the two but they were quickly flocked away by Poseidon.

"What's going on, father?" Percy couldn't help hide his irritation, an engagement ceremony wasn't exactly as fast as a snap, the whole time he tried to understand the situation or give an apologetic smile to Thalia, both ending up in failure. Now that he noticed Thalia, his fiancée, was missing, most likely in the same interrogation as he was.

"Eh." Poseidon turned back to Percy after calling off some noblemen trying to speak with Percy. "Perseus, my son, you must understand that this is no rarity amongst mortal rulers."

Percy bit his bottom lip and growled, it was true, what little news he had gotten over the early years usually involved some duke arranged to marry another.

"But that's different." Percy said as controllably as possible.

"How so?"

"They at least knew." Percy hissed. Poseidon did not back down, even if this was the first time Percy acted so absurdly aggressive, in fact because of that, Poseidon was left clueless whether he should answer kindly or furiously.

"There are many sacrifice in being a king." Poseidon's stern voice made Percy flinch. "If you ever wish to inherit my kingdom you must first be sculpted into a leader, and without the understanding of sacrifice what leader are you?" Percy frowned, thinking long and hard. "If you will control yourself, I have guess to attend to."

Percy glared at the marble floor as Poseidon's presence melted into the crowd. He felt so isolated, so alone, not even Luke was with him anymore. Without another moment, he ran away, turning around and dashing out of the pavilion.

He didn't know where to go nor what he was going to do, he just couldn't be around people. So intentionally or not, Percy ran to the only place that held significance to him in the maze like city, the garden.

Percy's steps patted to a stop as he recognized another figure, crouching low in front of the bed of Lev Deva. The figure was cloaked in the moons light, casting her shadows on him. But even without asking, Percy knew, and so did Thalia. She slowly stood and turned to face Percy, her face still shrouded in her own shadow, only the gleam of light in her eyes shown.

Percy step closer, cautiously. The figure stayed still, staring at him, as if expecting him to speak, and he tried but nothing came to mind.

"Lad-"

"Quiet!" Thalia cut him off. "Who do you think you are speaking to me!" She screamed. "You think that just because our fathers are friends means that we're equals? Never! There's no way in hell I'm associating myself with the likes of you!"

Percy stood there speechless, he didn't understand, he didn't even want to know. But he knew he needed to.

"W-What wrong?" Thalia sighed a hissing sound at the question.

"The hell do you think? Or do you even think at all!" She flared her arms, claps of electricity weaved through her elbow, cutting the stone ground and splitting the flowers. "It's you." She said so lowly that was even worst than when she screamed. "You're ruining my life. My life! Why don't I have any say in this! Why am I forced into marriage with... with you?"

Thalia ripped out her silver badge of engagement and flung it to the ground. She breathed heavily, staring at the non-dented, sparkling edges. She stared and stared for a long time, until she decided she had enough of standing and left, running into the dark woods beyond.

Percy kneeled down and grabbed the badge, looking over the vine like texture, and the sapphire stone at its center. For a moment an image flashed over his eyes, a blurry scene, crowded and shaky. Then he stared upwards, finally ready for the chase.

As Luke had informed him, Zeus's garden was like a small forest, filled with dangerous plants and no sign of human life. And he was right, Percy had only ventured the peek of the iceberg, the stone floor soon turned into dirt and beds of flowers into wild trees and bushes. Even when he scanned the skies, Percy couldn't spot Zeus's almighty clock tower, one of the largest buildings in all of Greece, one of the many egotistic architects as Luke had called.

Dense leafs even managed to block out a good portion of the night sky. The trees grew higher and higher until Percy was pretty sure he was in some kind of rainforest. He wasn't sure what time it was, last he checked it had been somewhere around 11, but the wilderness completely altered time for him.

Percy wasn't one for giving up, however, Thalia was the princess and probably knew this forest inside and out, but this was the very first time he was even out of Avalon, much less in the heart of Olympia. Truth was, the chances he would fine Thalia was almost zero. So he stood there, hands on knees, breathing hard from the constant running, maybe that was his mistake, what if she just stopped after a dozen yards.

Here he was, deep inside the dark, unforgiving sanctum where no one would fine him. He gritted his teeth and squeezed the silver badge in his right hand, what was he doing? Chasing after some girl who hated him? He didn't even know. Some primal urge pushed him forward, calling him deeper and deeper into the dark. It felt like he knew this path in some strange fashion.

It was only when he came to a split in the dirt paths did he stop and wonder where he was so hastily running towards. The two paths had few defining features; the one on the right rose upwards also being slightly brighter while the left seemed to be going deeper into the dark forest.

One thought forced itself into his mind like a furious wave. "The hiding place is behind Zeus's palace, at the center of the woods, if you want to find her." Rachel Elizabeth Dare, if Percy remembered correctly, had spoke those very words as if she was an Oracle. Percy shook the shivering thought from his head and chose the left path, all the while a stranger thought obscured his mind, left was the Devil's direction. More or less, of course that was just some silly rebel myth, something that's like a guilty pleasure for Percy, learning what is unreal and praised by others.

He ran and ran, trying to think about everything but his depleting energy, he wasn't tired certainly not, but the whole trip and everything that happened after just pushed the young Lord to his limits. However, now of all times wasn't perfect to think anything but the repetitive trees and the dim dirt path ahead. One quick daydream and he might lose his way and be trapped forever in the darkness or fall off a cliff or eaten by- Percy took the moment to slap himself for being so hypocritical.

The hit was harder than expected and he nearly tripped over an up-sprung root. He cursed to himself for being so utterly pathetic but knew better than to beat himself, especially now when so much political spotlight was set on him. In fact the very fact that both Thalia and him, now engaged, were missing from the party could rouse unwanted gossip, however that worked was beyond Percy. Every time he asked Luke-

Another slap, Percy jerked his head to the side and covered his, now warm, left cheek.

"Stupid." A dirty word, but something that fit well for the occasion. Percy glanced back to the path and froze when he realized that something was terribly wrong. He'd forgotten which way to go. Both sides looked nearly identical, dark and tree-filled. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Percy nocked his head weakly with the silver badge in his right hand.

Suddenly, a sharp tremor rocked the path, the pebbles rattled and the trees rustled. Percy stayed completely still; after all, his father was the Earth Shaker so tremors often occurred when Poseidon was angered, enough for Percy to get the hang of it.

In fact, he was so used to these tremors and so adapt in its motion that he immediately pinpoint its epicenter. He stared off in the direction of the steep hill, no steps, no rocks, if he took one step he'd surely slip.

"'At the center of the woods'." Percy repeated while he neared the edge. It wasn't too far a fall, he could see the trees and bushes 40 so feet down the 60 degrees slip. He gasped for air then took his step, before even a single blink everything was out of his control.

The leaves and branches slapped him all over, blocking his view one after the other. At one point he managed to hit the trunk of a tree and lost his footing, now he was sweaty and covered in dirt, Luke won't like this, then again Luke had very little that he did like.

Percy's roll slowed as the hill flattened; soon he came to a complete stop. Lying on the ground, he took a minute to breath and reflected on his stupid action, what uncontrollable urge could possibly cause him to make such a rash move. One unlucky branch could have easily stabbed him, or jag out one of him eyes, or snap his neck…

As much as he liked lying around and thinking about gruesome imagery, the same urge that led him into the forest and down the hill pushed him up off the ground and continued inward. Percy didn't even know which way was which, just that he was going inward, where was that? He carried on, holding tightly onto Thalia's engagement proof. Now that he thought about it, how does he even have the energy to keep a mid sprint?

The only thing he could think about was the endless darkness, the very loneness of the Dark. The Emptiness. The silent cries, something that brought sorrow to Percy, what could have possibly end up here with me?

The trees opened up into an enormous clearing, large enough to hold a small courtyard. It looked to be some kind of ancient ritual site. The bricks that constructed the small open-air temple were cracked and old, vines of plants and moss settled their home on the columns and arches.

At its center, was a small auditorium like area with steep steps that could easily act as seats, and a grand stage with a large tombstone slumbering in a circle frame, something that might once have been a flowerbed?

The child stepped into the edge of the first step and glanced blankly at the tombstone, as if visiting an old friend that once cost him great pain. It was clear that Zeus had abandon the resting site and the rest of the world forgot as well.

The tremors started again, however this time it didn't simply end, the ground shook faster and faster until the remaining columns began to break off loose stones. The tombstone yawned, the worn out carvings flashed like eyelids trying to wake itself.

A shallow cry echoed through the thin air, carried by the chilled wind. The ground roared, ripping itself apart, the night gale screamed under the full moon. Red blood leaked from the tomb carvings, pouring into the stage and quickly filling the area, it was when the crimson liquid reached Percy's ankles did the tombstone burst, shattering into millions of pieces.

Stunning green light pierced the cloudless sky and into the stars, all sound seemed to wash away, the pillars supporting the remaining arches fell and crumbled mutely. Birds and wild beast of the night, what was bold enough to stay here in the first place, scattered away from the deadly gleam of green. Percy blinked at the green light, his fingers loosened and the silver badge slip from his grip, into the thick blood, instantly swallowed.

Overhead, storming clouds moved in, covering the ancient resting ground like a coffin, a thundering god of the sky charged, reaching for the blinding light.

Percy raised his left hand, a steak of blue rose alongside the green tower, it traveled higher and higher, cutting in between Zeus and the green light. The blue light expanded into a circular rune, like a shield against water, the green light hit against the blue rune and scattered into the vast sky, into the distant mountains and over the farthest seas.

The green light faded and so did the blue rune, Percy in response fell onto one knee, gripping his forehead and hair with immense soreness, a migraine like that he never felt before, then again, he said that for every one of them.

A weak grunt caught Percy's ear, he turned up and grew wide-eyed when a frail white feather fell from the darkness above. As the feather grew closer and larger, Percy realized it was a person in a flowing white dress. He bolted up and extended his arms, but quickly realized the girl was plummeting straight into the gaping hole in the center where the tombstone used to be, the blood now swirling back where it once was.

Percy jolted backwards and bent his knees, he waited for the girl to fall into range, just like the volley ball Luke always chuck into the air on timing practices, except this wasn't a game, it was life or death, not to mention this wasn't a small, light ball, it was an actual living person.

The pressure was on, however he didn't have time to linger on the thoughts of hesitation; he simply had to jump, to react, to save. Percy dashed off over the steps and soared into the fragile mistress, hugging her with all his strength and landing again on the other side of the stage. His landing was rough as expected, however he did not take his fatigue into account, and fell in a roll along with the small girl.

Percy squinted open his eyes and gasped when he found the girl on top of him, her head resting snuggly in his chest. He sighed and dropped his head back down and breathed, his eyes slowly closed, his last sight being Zeus descending from the dark clouds.

How was that?, hopefully it wasn't too confusing, but it's a hard thing trying to unravel a whole new world. Anyway, if you feel compelled to, give me your thoughts, I'd love to hear them. And just so you know, I'm no writer, I've just VERY recently started, in fact my talent lies with art, so forgive me for my mistakes.