Percy is in the middle of Mount Saint Helens ankle deep in magma and surrounded by Telekhine soldiers. In his left hand he has the golden blade the Telekhine smiths had been forging. Kronos' blade. Annabeth has left and Percy just needs to hold off the monsters long enough for her to get far away.
His feet burn. Even if he is more fire resistant than most mortals he isn't -apparently- completely magma proof. Good to know. Percy kind of wishes he'd known this before getting into the middle of a volcano.
Percy is surrounded by more than fifty large 7-foot wolf-headed monsters with swords and the bottom of his feet are burning. He smells his own flesh burning. This is not going great. His heart beats like crazy as he clutches Riptide in one hand and Kronos' blade in the other.
"Ok you overgrown chihuahuas, which one of you thinks they can take me? Who will fall first?" Percy says. If the Telekhines attacked him one at a time Percy might be able to hold them off.
"ATTACK!" roars one of the bigger and uglier wolf-headed hulking beasts. They all rush forward. So much for that plan. Percy runs. He wishes there was water nearby.
His feet sink into the magma as he runs, slowing him down. He tries to lead the hoard away from the tunnel Annabeth had gone down. He tries to outrun them. He tries to get back onto solid rock instead of burning magma. He tries to fight them off. He tries-
And fails.
He cuts down several of the beasts, covering Percy in gold dust. Then three Telekhines jump him and pin his arms down, trying to pull Kronos' blade out of his grip. He holds onto the blade so tight it cuts into his skin.
A fourth Telekhine runs forth and swing a large axe blade right at Percy's torso. Percy's going to die. His mom will be so disappointed. In the half a second before the blade cuts through him, Percy screams and pours all of his power out. He doesn't have a goal, only fear.
BOOM!
The earth shakes and magma goes flying. The Telekhines scream. The air explodes with sound and ash and Percy feels himself burn and fly through the air. He feels Kronos' blade get ripped from his fingers by the wind and cut into his left forearm. He hopes Annabeth got away.
For a second the wind stops, but Percy grabs hold of the distant earth once more and pours his rage and fear into it.
Everything goes black.
.
Marcella looks over the bay to the mountain pouring ash straight up into the air. She stands in the courtyard of her brother's villa on the cliffs overlooking the waters. Next to her, her teenage son Gaius was reading Cicero in an effort to keep his mind off the rising doom ahead of them. The two of them are outside in the courtyard because the earthquakes might cause the house to fall. Many of their friends have already left.
Marcella and her son had refused to leave because they have been waiting for her brother to return. However, a dark cloud has begun to descend from the skies and cover the sea. Marcella had been keeping an eye on her brother's ships as they approached the mountain, but they were obscured by the cloud now. The ash cloud had already surrounded and concealed the island of Capri and it was coming toward them. Marcella had prepared a travel bag with a few things just in case.
Marcella turns to her son, "Gaius, you have to leave. Death approaches from the mountain. You have to run. You are young and healthy, even on foot you will be able to walk a great distance. You must leave now, lest you be swallowed up by the cloud."
"We must wait for uncle Plinius," Gaius says, putting down his scrolls at last, "we can escape together."
"If your uncle is still alive, he would wish for you to live. If he has passed then there is no reason to die here. You will do him no good staying. You must go Gaius. I command it," Marcella says, pulling her son to his feet and handing him the emergency travel bag.
Gaius grabs hold of her hand, "I will not leave you, mother. If you insist we leave, we shall, but you must come with me."
"I am old and will only slow you down. I would willingly meet my death if only I know I am not the cause of yours," Marcella says. If her slow speed and her bad knee cause her only child to die, she will weep forever in the underworld, Marcella is sure of it.
"I will not leave without you, mother," Gaius says, "So you will have to flee as well, or I will stay with you, come what may."
Marcella isn't sure if she wants to hug or strangle her noble boy. Nonetheless, the two leave the courtyard hand in hand. They hurry down to the main road where more people are leaving their homes and fleeing away from the volcano.
Although they make good speed, the dark cloud is faster. Ash began to fall upon them like rain. A dark mist seemed to be following them, spreading over the countryside like a cloud. A rock falls from the sky. People stumble into each other in the limited light. The people around them start to sob with fear.
"Do you think this is the end of days, mother?" Gaius asks, his voice shaking just a bit as he tries to conceal his fear from her. "Do you think the whole world is dying?"
"No Gaius," Marcella says, though she doesn't really know, "The gods will look out for us."
Marcella holds her son's hand tightly, closes her eyes and prays. She sends her prayers to whichever god it is that caused the volcano to erupt.
Please have mercy upon us mortals, great one. Please spare my son. Let him live.
.
Unexpectedly, Perseus wakes up. His entire body aches, his lungs burn and his left forearm screams in pain. He is partially encapsuled in a bright lump of lava.
There's water nearby. Perseus reaches out toward it as the lump of lava starts to overwhelm him. The nearby stream rushes forward and hits the molten rock with a hiss. The water solidifies the lava before it can cover Perseus' head. The stream also flows over him and gives him a much-needed energy boost.
His legs and chest are stuck in the burning liquid but Perseus is able to crawl forward on his arms. He starts to pull himself away from the lava. He hears a shocked female voice in the distance.
A hand reaches forward and grabs Perseus' arm, pulling him out of the lava. A second pair of hands join soon after. A grown woman and a teen boy pull Perseus out of the burning clump. The water Perseus had pulled toward him is almost spent, along with most of his energy. The woman tries to help Perseus up, but he is far too exhausted to stand.
"I'll be alright," he tries to assure the woman, "I'm not so easy to kill." Perseus hopes he isn't in the Maze. He's too tired for monsters. Exhaustion pulls at him.
The woman drapes a large scarf over him and Perseus belatedly realizes that he is naked.
"Semi-Deus," The woman says softly.
"Per-seus," Perseus corrects her, "The pleasure is all mine."
Perseus knows the mist and the darkness will cover his actions so the mortals don't see anything they should not see. He reaches out toward the stream again and with a twist in his gut pulls it forward until his fingers touch the water. Perseus lets the cool water flow through his fingers and up his arm. The water is a balm on the open wound, which starts to heal.
Once his wound closes, exhaustion overwhelms him. Perseus hears the woman say something, but he is already passing out as she grabs hold of his shoulder.
.
Percy wakes hours later when someone wipes his face with a cloth.
More than two inches of ash and dust have built up on top of him as he slept. He's being carried on a make shift stretcher- AKA two people holding a blanket. The boy and the woman (the boy's mom?) that helped him out of the magma are carrying his stretcher-blanket. A third person wipes the ash off of Percy's face and he smiles tiredly at her. Percy tries to thank her but she doesn't seem to understand English.
Percy's mind is working very slowly and every muscle in his body is screaming. Hoover Dam that's painful. Note to self: Do not stand in the middle of a volcanic explosion again. Not fun. 1/5 stars, would not recommend.
Someone has dressed him in a long t-shirt. He's not naked anymore. Yay?
His arm is healed from the water. Percy's still tired, but more of a "stayed up all night playing video games instead of sleeping" kind of tired instead of a "my entire body is about to collapse into goo and never form anything resembling a Percy shaped creature again out of sheer spite" level of exhaustion. So that's an improvement.
Listening to the shuffling and fearful muttering around him, Percy guesses he is among a group of about fifty people. He cannot understand them but the cries of fear, sobbing and the deep painful coughing of poisoned air doesn't need translating.
They are outside and it's dark out. The only light comes from two torches that are several feet away being held by terrified looking people covered in ash. The trees around them are dimly lit by the torches. The air is filled with thick ash and stinking sulfur. This is likely the reason Percy's lungs are burning.
The group of people around him cough and sob in equal measure. Some of them are wearing pillows on their head, as if afraid of things falling from the sky. Ash is falling from the sky. It's as if it is snowing heavily, but the snow is hot instead of cold and black instead of white.
The aftermath of a volcanic explosion.
The aftermath of a volcanic explosion Percy caused.
He caused this. A pit fills his stomach. He hadn't meant to explode a volcano. He'd just been scared and he needed to keep the monsters busy as Annabeth ran away. He had to keep Kronos' blade out of the hands of his army. He never meant for people to be hurt.
People shuffle around nervously, but Percy can't really blame them. They have just survived a volcanic explosion. Also, the air is still poisonous and it is raining ash like snow in a polar vortex. Not great.
Pulling his tired body up, Percy looks up at the sky. The boy and his mom let him down from the stretcher. They were on a hilly road surrounded by what might have once been a forest but was now a wasteland of ash lumps. The mountain several miles away was on fire- probably not great. Part of the mountain's peak had been blown off and it was pushing black ash several miles into the air. That ash was raining back down. Occasionally a rock big enough to bash someone's head in falls from the sky.
Percy looks around at the assembled group of people in the dim light. Woman, children, men- all of them covered in dark ash. Their tunics and sandals are gray with ash. Most of them were breathing heavy or coughing. People occasionally knelt to drink from the stream Percy had pulled last time he was awake. Apparently, the stream had followed Percy in his sleep.
They need to get away from the volcano and to a hospital ASAP. The problem is that Percy has no idea where he is or where the nearest hospital is. Also, he has no shoes and his feet are severely burned. Percy closes his eyes; this is no time to be focusing on his own wounds. If they didn't get somewhere safe soon, people will die.
The stream Percy had pulled from nearby was flowing swiftly downhill. They could follow the stream to the nearest body of water. If they could get to the Pacific Ocean then Percy would be able to orient himself. Percy always knows where he is in the ocean.
Percy stands up and addresses the crowd, "We need to keep moving. If we can make it to a lake or an ocean, I'm sure the rescue teams will be able to find us easier." He points downstream, hoping that even if people spoke Spanish they would understand. If people want to stay it's not like he can force them to keep walking, but he can lead the way.
Percy steps into the cool stream, letting the water sooth his burnt feet and starts walking. Behind him people start moving as well. After half a mile Percy glances behind him and slows his pace. These were not demigods; they were exhausted families. Some people were struggling more than others. He waits for people to catch up with him before continuing.
The people are talking among themselves. Their subdued tones are occasionally broken by sobs and long painful sounding coughing. Percy only catches the occasional words like "Pompei", "August", "venom", and "volcano".
Percy thinks it's Spanish, but it was a weird Spanish that he couldn't quite understand. In high school Percy got a C- in Spanish so he's not too surprised he can't understand anything other than the occasional word. He also learned Mexican-Spanish, and maybe this group of people spoke Spanish from a different country. Like Spain. Or Chile. Or Venezuela. Or - No, focus, Percy!
Percy finds the woman who had been carrying him when he first woke. She is a middle-aged woman with dark hair wearing a simple dress and sandals- all grey from the ash of course.
"Hey, I wanted to thank you for carrying me. I don't know how long you had to do that but thanks. Um, Gracias. Mucho gracias," Percy says.
The woman looks almost afraid when Percy talks; she averts her eyes and says something in weird-Spanish that Percy assumes means "no problem" but could just as likely be "You owe me like a thousand dollars and like twenty coffees". Percy tells himself to try to pay more attention in Spanish class next year.
They walk for a while. Percy's mind is still cotton from exhaustion and, you know, being exploded in a volcano. Still, occasionally he looks at the ash raining sky hoping to see a helicopter or a search airplane. He doesn't find anything. Then again, it's probably not a great idea to fly a helicopter in air that is raining ash and dust. Percy is no helicopter pilot, but he assumes being able to see is pretty important for pilots.
A child and their aging father (or grandfather?) lag behind the group and Percy stops, motioning for the group to keep walking before turning back to the pair. The man is walking unsteadily with tear tracks down his face and the child looks exhausted and terrified.
Percy tries to put on his kindest voice, "Hey kiddo. Do you want to climb on my back? It's a pretty shitty day, but we'll get through it together, ok?"
He uses body language to try to communicate piggy backs, and after a few moments the kid asks his dad for permission. After a nod, the kid gets on Percy's back and almost immediately passes out. Poor kid. Percy tries to smile a bit at the man, but nothing about this situation is good so everything comes across as forced.
They walk at an agonizingly slow pace. Hours pass and the world gets darker. If Percy was alone, he could walk faster but he's not alone. These people carried him for hours, so he can carry them back. The sky continues to rain ash. The people whisper. Percy is beginning to think they don't speak Spanish. Portuguese maybe? Italian?
Percy uses the water from the stream to push the built-up ash out of the way. At times the ash reaches four feet high. This wasn't ash like the stuff left over from a campfire at camp half blood. This was heavy hot dust that built up like snow but was harder to move through. Rocks occasionally pelt down from the sky like hail- the type of hail that could crack a windshield. A rock flies down from the sky and hits the arm of a man to Percy's left. It rips off a chunk of his flesh and the man cries out in pain. Percy is beginning to see why some people have tied pillows to their head. This was like a snowstorm in hell.
No one has phones. They must have really had to run pretty fast if no one brought their phone. Or maybe Percy had been unconscious longer than he thought and all their phone batteries had already run out.
The ash and dust in the air obscured vision to such an extent that the group were a few hundred yards away from the ocean before Percy even sees it. He couldn't help but let out a relieved laugh. Finally! Ocean! Percy wakes the kid on his back and returns him to his father carefully before turning and sprinting into the water.
In the water, Percy feels his burnt feet heal and his lungs clear from all the dust that had been building up. He knows exactly where he is- a useful perk to being Poseidon's kid. He's off the coast of Italy near Naples, nowhere near Mt. Saint Helens. The fog that had been muddling his mind since the volcanic eruption washes away and a few things become very obvious to Percy very quickly.
No phones. No helicopters. Tunics and sandals. A wound from Kronos' blade. Kronos is the titan of time. Speaking not-Spanish. The coast of Naples. Pompeii.
Pompeii.
Oh.
Oh no.
.
.
.
Author's Notes:
Mount Vesuvius erupted in the fall of 79 AD. The eruption destroyed a large part of the mountainside and led to huge amounts (1.5 MILLION TONS per SECOND) of hot gasses, burning ash, molten rock and volcanic rock being shot ~12 MILES/20 Kilometers into the air. The energy released during the explosion was 100,000 times greater than the nuclear bomb in Hiroshima. After a while all of the things being shot up into the air started coming down. It started raining burnish ash, lava and rock onto the people below.
For about 12 hours the eruption consisted mostly of these gasses, ash, lava and volcanic rock being launched into and raining from the sky. Most people around Mount Vesuvius were able to escape. With an estimated five thousand deaths and twenty thousand people successfully fleeing the volcano. (These are very rough numbers and exact estimates may be impossible).
Pliny the Younger, a survivor of the eruption, later described the cloud of ash coming from the volcano as looking like a pine tree, "for it shot up to a great height in the form of a very tall trunk, which spread itself out at the top into a sort of branches... it appeared sometimes bright and sometimes dark and spotted, according as it was either more or less impregnated with earth and cinders."
Then the cloud of poisoned superheated gas and ash (~1300 F /700 C) rushed down the mountainside burning and asphyxiating any who had remained in the cities and eventually burying these cities in ash.
But don't worry, that's not till next chapter. :)