Chapter 24
~Nick~
Pain… Blinding. Crushing. Inescapable. The kind that threated to overwhelm. Pain so great it blurred the line between fantasy and reality. Each time I woke I was assaulted with wave after wave of agony. Forced back into the deep black depths of unconsciousness. A small mercy.
More than once I thought I saw Percy. Percy being kind and helpful; friendly. That had to be fantasy. Not anything I would dream up; logic and reason were far from this equation. I could swear Nyx was whispering in my mind or trying to send me a dream, but I couldn't decipher her words. They came out in flashes and garbles.
Finally, I woke and the pain was at least bearable. I moaned, my body protesting this odd fact. Why was I in pain at all? I didn't feel like I'd been injured, or beaten, for that matter.
"Nick?" A tentative voiced asked from the shadows.
I tensed, my senses immediately on alert. Forcing my breathing to slow, I prepared my mind to strike out against the enemy. However, I quickly lost steam once I recognized the Son of Poseidon making his way cautiously closer to me. Step by step.
My head still reeling from the literally mind blowing pain.
"Percy?"
Relief clouded his features. Percy was like an open book. Nico was a puzzle that needed to be deciphered, a mystery that needed to be solved. Maybe that was what Nico found to be so appealing in this 'Savior of Olympus'. Maybe Nico also liked the hero aspect of one Mr. Jackson. Hero worship?
I shook my head. It didn't really matter after all. I shouldn't be thinking so much. It leads to way too many dark places…and horrific accidents.
"Oh, thank the Gods you're okay," Percy was saying, "Nico would kill me if anything had happened to you. You probably already know but that…that back there, wasn't me. Thanks, ya know, for helping me."
I wasn't sure how to respond. It was both the longest and most honest words I had heard coming from his mouth.
"Uh…how long have I been out?"
I mentally slapped myself (no, not literally, though I probably could if I so desired). Here he was actually being nice to me, had probably helped me, and I was just moving on to business. My thoughts were only of Nico. Perhaps Percy would understand on some level. Hopefully in regards to the Daughter of Athena.
"I don't know exactly," he said frowning, "maybe three days? We've been surviving on ambrosia. In small doses, of course."
He looked around at our surroundings. The stars and planets had slowed to their normal rhythm.
"It's hard to tell the passage of time in The Dome," I say immediately. Nyx had taught me to anticipate questions and respond accordingly. It was only habit.
Percy nodded slowly, "So what's next?"
It was my turn to frown as I stood up, shaking the stiffness from my bones. I rolled my shoulders and cracked my back and neck, before moving onto my hands. A few pops! Later, I was good to go.
"What do you mean? You're going back to Camp," I said decisively.
"Just like that? You're not gonna tell me what you're doing here? Why do we look like we're in outer space? Don't you think I deserve some answers after babysitting you for three days? I didn't even know if you would survive. Gods! How do you lead so naturally?"
I blinked, trying to process this stream of data and inquiries being thrown at me from Percy Jackson. Some of his questions were obvious and predictable. I had already established answers for them. Others were entirely unexpected and gave me pause. In the end I decided to start at the top.
"Just like that," was the beginning to my witty response, "This is The Dome of Nyx; a place where she and I guard the Night. The place where order and chaos collide and needs to be tempered. What humans call Outer Space. I didn't ask you to help me, let alone babysit me, but thanks for that anyway. I was always going to survive. It's interesting you even care given our rocky history. And finally, I used to be a leader. A dam good one, but I gave that up. I had never wanted it, but now I don't have the strength."
"I want to help…" Percy said, looking like a kicked puppy dog.
I sighed, "Alright. You can start by not standing so close to that doorway."
He came forward to stand closer to me, and subsequently deeper into The Dome.
"Okay, but why?"
I clasped Percy on the shoulder in what, I hoped, was a friendly manner. I wasn't terribly good with people.
"You're going home," I said simply, willing the shadows to whisk him away.
With that done and Percy gone, I headed out of the cavern and down the hill. My destination? The Isles of the Blest.
It took me most of the day, or night, really it was impossible to tell in the Underworld. For anyone but a Son of Nyx that is. I could sense that in the world above the sun was shining. It was not Night in the mortal world.
So, yeah, I had spent the day trekking through the fields of Asphodel. Then I had walked the streets of Elysium. Which looked like any modern city. Say San Francisco, the architecture was very similar. Bakery shops, coffee shops, restaurants, theaters, and even an apothecary. Elysium held everything a dead demigod could want. It was a chance at happiness, when demigods rarely got any at all. It was horrible too many of us had to die, to get that chance.
"Hey Nick!"
I turned, surprised anyone in the Underworld would know my name. I took in two figures, running up to me. There was a tall pale girl, no older than seventeen. She had long flowing blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. The other was a boy of around fifteen. Native American. Deep brown eyes and black hair that was recently cut short. Of course, it was Jamie Jacobs.
"What the hell are you two doing here?" I demanded.
The blonde leveled her gaze at me, "Helping. Really that is no way to greet your old friends."
I could feel my power swell inside of me. My anger was fueling it and what it craved most of all was the one thing I couldn't give it: release.
"I didn't ask for your help Kaitlyn. How did you even find me?"
"Nyx," was Jamie's only response.
I shook my head, "Are you guys crazy? Are you trying to get us killed? We can't walk around in the Underworld together! Do you know how many demons will sense and swarm us? As if a Son of Nyx isn't bad enough, you want to add a Daughter of Hemera and a Son of Chaos to the mix? That's like a suicidal cocktail of demigod power!"
As if on cue, shadows began to materialize around us. The streets of Elysium were eerily and utterly silent. The inhabitants must have taken off in a hurry some time during my outburst. Vampire and Empusi demons flitted through the streets, sniffing and snarling, no doubt trying to find our demigod scent. It wouldn't take them long. Winged creatures flew through the air, screeching and hissing. Of course they too were (most likely) searching for us.
"Shit. Time to run," I urged my friends.
I thrust my hand forward sending a vampire who was getting too close for comfort rocketing backward into an Empusa that was close behind.
Jamie transformed and took to the sky in the shape of a dragon. He was pure black and roared, pulling apart the grotesque demons with his claws.
Kaitlyn threw balls of light at her attackers. Some actually flashed and grew too bright to look at before disappearing from existence.
She made her way forward with me, side by side. We waded through the shadows, striking any we could manage. We couldn't kill them, but we could drive them from this plane of existence.
I slashed at our enemies with Death, my black obsidian sai. I had my left hand free to throw back any shadows or demons that were getting too close. To any of us.
Kaitlyn had formed a whip of pure sunlight. Each time she cracked it, the shadows retreated hissing at the light. Any time her whip made direct contact with a shadow, it burned up, leaving only ash and dust in its wake.
Jamie, I thought frantically, meet us at the docks.
Jamie, the dragon, roared and beat its powerful wings in such a way to buffet any flying demons willing to give chase. He soared off to the right.
"Where the hell is he going?!" Kaitlyn demanded still fighting next to me.
"The docks. We should split up and make our way there."
"But-"Kaitlyn began to protest but I efficiently cut her off, stabbing a demon for emphasis.
"No buts. I told you we shouldn't be traveling together. I'll accept your help, but we do this my way. Split. Up."
She nodded stiffly and disappeared in a flash of brilliant white light.
I summoned the shadows and I too, left the fighting, as well as the demons behind.
Kaitlyn and Jamie were already preparing the little dinghy for transport. I looked at the thing with pure, undisguised scorn. How was this pathetic little thing going to take a single person (forget about the three of us for a second) all the way across the ocean to the Isles of the Blest? The ocean churned and rebelled. The color was simple; a dark, unassuming grey. Just on the edge of the horizon the water turned to a tropical blue. As if the very ocean was determined to make the difference between the territories even more surreal.
We climbed in silently. Before I could make some sarcastic, scathing remark the boat (could it be called a boat?) began edging itself forward. I nodded to myself. Of course it ran off magic, this was the Underworld after all.
I kept looking back over my shoulder, expecting flying demons to swoop down upon us. Perhaps the magic of the Isles kept them at bay? I had heard rumors that the Isles were older than even Chaos herself. It was simply there already when she first noticed her own consciousness birthed from the void. There were some who said the Isles of the Blest was somehow between worlds. A place where the mortal world, the Underworld and the world of Magic as well as the Gods converged. A nexus of power, knowledge and history. Those who had achieved Elysium, but chose to be reborn and lucky or skilled enough to do so three times, were granted asylum here. It was where only the greatest and most virtuous of heroes resided and rested. A place where even the Gods were kept in line.
Throughout the war with Kronos, the Guardians had watched and waited. Nico was especially interesting to us. Well, to me. He acted a lot like a Guardian. It was time to get authorization to offer Nico a position among us.
But to do so I would need permission from Nyx, Hades, and Chaos first. So long ago now, Nyx had told me I had her support. In a dream maybe? To win Nico back, I had to show him I wasn't lying, it was all the truth. The best way was to see it was with his own eyes. But once he knew, once he saw, he would need to make The Choice.
First thing was first. It was time to see Chaos. I looked at my companions. I was glad Jamie was here, it would make talking to his mother that much easier. Kaitlyn…was also needed. Those who wanted to meet Chaos had to prove themselves on three accounts: Knowledge, Power, and History. She had modeled the system off of the most ancient of magic known to the Gods and she was the first of the Gods: The Isles of the Blest. Our journey had only just begun. The War with Gaia could only be put off so long. Soon the events that needed to play out must be played out. To do that the Guardians would need Nico for two very important reasons. One, they wanted me to lead and I was strong only because of Nico. Two, Nico was a key player in The War and the Prophecy of Seven. Everything was connected. Everything has a reflection. Yin and Yang. Right and Wrong. Good and Evil.
I knew that if I went back to the Academy I couldn't escape my responsibilities a second time. But as long as I had Nico, I would be okay. He was all that mattered. For now, I would just worry about Chaos.
