A woman, adorned in regal golden and purple armor, could be seen marching through the streets of New Rome. She wore a face of indifference as she walked, passing by the citizens who all smiled and waved at her. She tried her best to greet them but couldn't find the strength to keep up the facade. In actuality, she was terrified. The news she had been told recently from her co-praetor was shocking, to say the least. She didn't believe it to be frank. She didn't want to. They had just finished fighting two wars against some of the most powerful enemies of Olympus. There was no way another war could already be on their doorstep.
Dakota had been adamant however that it was true and that New Rome, the legion, should prepare to fight. He wouldn't say how exactly he found out this information which made her doubt him. He probably had just a vivid dream from passing out drunk. That's all it had to be, right? Gods, she hoped so. Both Romans and Greeks couldn't afford to fight another war. Their manpower and supplies were practically depleted thanks to Gaea's army decimating them.
Seeing a statue of Percy Jackson in the corner of her eye as she made her way to Temple Hill, she couldn't help but wish he was here right now. There wouldn't have been these rumors of a new war if he was alive. No monsters or Titans in their right mind would dare attack them if Percy, who killed Terra of all people, was protecting them. Shaking her head, she continued to walk at a brisk pace. She could wish all she wanted but that didn't change the fact that he was dead. New Rome only had itself and she would do everything in her power as Praetor to ensure the sun still shined on the beautiful city.
Eventually, she made it to her destination, the Temple of Jupiter. She wanted to find out if the Augur had seen anything similar to what Dakota spoke of. Walking up the steps to the temple, she was greeted by New Rome's new Augur that Dakota had personally instated after Octavian's death. Her name was Octavia ironically but she held no semblance to the former Augur besides their relative, Apollo. She had the power of foresight as well but her's was much more powerful due to Apollo personally blessing her.
"Reyna, thank the Gods you're here." She said, hurriedly greeting her at the temple's entrance. The Praetor took a step back in shock as she examined the eighteen-year-old girl.
"You're covered in blood, Octavia! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Reyna said, looking for any wounds but the Augur pushed her hands away.
"I'm okay but you need to see this now!"
Deciding not to argue, Reyna followed quickly and entered Jupiter's temple. Expecting to be greeted by a beautiful gold statue of the King of the Gods, she was instead welcomed by the sight of blood staining every corner of the temple. Standing still in shock, the daughter of Bellona let out a gasp as he looked up at Jupiter's statue, seeing that it too was covered in the red substance.
"W-Wha?" She was at a loss for words as she turned her gaze back to Octavia who picked up a gutted stuffed animal toy leaking blood.
"This-This-I've never seen this before, Reyna." The daughter of Apollo whispered in fear, looking at the toy. It shouldn't be possible for such a thing to contain actual blood, let alone this much. "I was just doing the normal readings. I don't know how this happened, I-I'm so sorry. I know I'm still new and-..."
"It's not your fault, Octavia." The Praetor reassured, coming back to reality as she analyzed the temple some more. Seeing multiple stuffed animals on the blood-covered floor leaking all the same, she knew this wasn't the Augur's doing. It was the Gods.
"I've been having dreams lately." The younger girl admitted, looking down at her dripping hands. "Terrible, nasty dreams. Last night I had my worst one yet."
"What'd you see?"
The Augur was silent for a moment, closing her eyes in pain as she relived that terrible memory. It was almost too much for her to recount but the Praetor needed to know.
"A black smoke crashing into New Rome and Camp Half-Blood like a tsunami leaving death and fire in its wake. I remember hearing the screams of the dying as I gazed out at the city from a mountaintop. There was…so much death and destruction. I couldn't even recognize it."
Reyna stayed silent as she tried to decipher what the daughter of Apollo had seen but she wasn't done quite yet.
"The ocean bubbled and churned as if it was angry with a beautiful black Pegasus flying above it. Behind it was a blood-red moon rising above the horizon. I could feel the aura even in my dream. It was-It was something else, to say the least." Octavia said breathlessly, her heart rapidly beating as she remembered the dream.
Reyna's own heart raced as she tried to decipher the Augur's dream. The blood-red moon over the horizon in both Greek and Roman Mythology meant the coming of war. The black smoke encapsulating New Rome scared her even more than that. Did it mean New Rome would fall to its enemies? She did say the city was on fire and the buildings were destroyed. That's the only thing it could mean, right? The last part, however, confused her the most. An ocean bubbling in anger and a black Pegasus flying above it? What in Jupiter could that mean? Was Neptune angry at New Rome? Or perhaps it had to do something with Percy?
"He's dead though." Reyna muttered to herself, quelling the hope that was inevitably rising within her. There was no way he was still alive. Terra had killed him and then his body fell with her deep into the Earth. She wished there was a chance but that's all it was. Wishful thinking. There's no way even someone like Percy could survive that. "Have you told anyone else this?"
"No one except Praetor Dakota and now you."
"That explains Dakota and his franticness." Reyna thought to herself as she stepped outside and gazed out to the city. Looking down at the domed Senate House that had just been repaired from the Battle of New Rome, she knew what needed to be done. There would be no hiding this revelation from New Rome's citizens. They deserve to know what's coming, no matter how much it might hurt them.
"Don't tell anyone what you've seen, Octavia." The daughter of Bellona sighed. "At least until I can call a senate meeting. I will have no rumors and panic growing throughout New Rome. Everyone will find out together."
"Then what?"
Reyna's steely eyes peered out to the sun that was beginning to set behind the mountains in the distance. She knew what was about to come. She's experienced it twice already and twice they've succeeded. They won't fail this time either. She'll make sure the Romans and Greeks are prepared to face the enemy. She'll make sure that Olympus's might and the Gods's reign will be preserved. Percy would've done the same.
"We go to war."
-Scene Change-
Percy had been walking for what felt like ages throughout the vastness of Tartarus. His entire body hurt from stepping on glass shards, climbing towering hills, and breathing in the poisonous air of Tartarus. Thankfully, he had enough supplies from Polemus to keep him alive for some time and very few monsters had approached which perplexed him. Surely they smelt his scent, right? Why weren't they after him? He wasn't complaining but he knew this wasn't normal which was why he wouldn't let his guard down even for a second. That sadly meant, however, rarely any sleep or breaks to rest. He needed to find whatever this compass was leading to and get out.
This compass was his only chance to leave this place. He needed to protect it like it was his own heart. As he walked over to the edge of the hill he had just finished climbing, he gripped it tightly in his hand, making sure he was following in the direction of the arrow. Peering up, he saw that it was taking him into a deep valley surrounded by jagged mountains a couple of miles away. His heart sank as he realized this wouldn't be a simple or quick journey. Rolling his shoulders and gritting his teeth, the demigod pushed forward deeper into the pit.
He had to be careful walking through the maddening darkness. Every step he took could lead to his death. A deep hole, an unseen sleeping monster, or whatever unknown dangerous things down here could kill him in a second. During his tenure down in the pit both times, he's learnt to be quiet. No loud footsteps, no wincing in pain when glass pierces his skin, not even loud breathing when blood seeps into his lungs. He's as quiet as Artemis on one of her hunts which is truly an accomplishment in his eyes. Obviously, he wished he could've learned this stuff without having to fall into Tartarus but oh well. You make the best of it he supposed.
"Make the best of it down here?" He scoffed, not believing he just told himself that. One doesn't make the best of it down here. There was no such thing. All there was here was darkness, madness, suffering, and death. If you ever had the misfortune to fall into the pit and survive its fall, you were bound to be eaten alive. You suffer, and suffer and suffer some more before you're killed by monsters or you kill yourself. The only reason why he hasn't done the latter is because of his family. They were still alive up there, he knew they were. Time worked differently in Tartarus, he understood that. What could be a day down here could be years up on the surface but he held onto that little bit of hope. Hope that they were still alive and not a lot of time had passed.
"Just keep on moving forward, Jackson. Keep moving forward."
And so he did. For hours upon hours, days upon days, he kept moving forward one step at a time to the valley the compass was leading him to. He dubbed the location "The Valley of Death". It was a fitting name albeit cliche. He had a feeling though there would be a lot of death there once he arrived, something he wasn't looking forward to.
Along the the way, he only ran into a few monsters here and there but nothing he couldn't handle. Thankfully there weren't a lot of the tougher ones coming at him like Drakons or Arai. If he had come across those he wasn't too sure if he'd come out unscathed, especially if he fought the Arai. He cringed slightly as he remembered his last encounter with them. It was a particularly painful encounter that he would most definitely not like to experience again.
Eventually, he arrived at the Valley of Death. It was the darkest place, save Nyx's palace, he had seen yet down here. Cold wind that could freeze the blood in your veins rushed upward from the valley's entrance, hitting his face like a baseball bat. He could smell the stench even from where he was standing, causing him to almost gag. Tartarus smelt awful but he had thought he'd gotten used to it. Safe to say that wasn't the case. It smelt like rotting flesh, something he had unfortunately smelt before due to the past two wars he took part in. Making sure this was the right place, he pulled out the compass once more. Looking down at the red arrow, it was indeed pointing directly at the entrance of the valley.
"Let's just get this over with." The demigod sighed in resignation before steeling his nerves and carefully walking down the sloped hill. It was hard to see as he walked. The darkness encapsulated his entire vision as he ventured deeper down and the smell was only getting worse. He wanted to pull out Riptide so he could have a little bit of light to see but he didn't dare risk it. Monsters, if there were any down here, would see it and be on him in an instant.
It was a lose-lose situation though because, without light, he eventually slipped over something that felt like a tree limb, causing him to go tumbling down the hill.
"Shit!" He cried out as he fell, hitting rocks, glass, and other dangerous stuff as he descended rapidly. Finally, after what felt like hours but was probably only seconds, he hit the bottom with a resounding thud! Groaning and spluttering, he rolled onto his back as he tried to get air back in his lungs. Bad idea. The air down here or rather the lack of it, felt like knives hitting his lungs. Trying to block out the pain, he quickly patted himself down for any injuries. Thankfully, there were no major ones. No broken bones or damaged organs. He was about to sigh in relief until he felt the warm sensation of blood cascading down his face. Softly touching the top of his forehead, he felt a deep gash coming from the top all the way down over his right eye and ending at his jawbone.
He cursed internally as he rummaged in his backpack, pulling out Phlegethon River water and dripping some of it across his wound. The pain was unbearable. It felt like a million wasps stinging his face at the same time. It needed to be done, however. A wound like this, if left untreated, could cost him his life. Once that was done, he got to his feet and pulled out Riptide. He knew it was stupid too but he wasn't taking any more chances.
The blade shrieked to life as he uncapped it, the orange, bronze glow staving off the darkness around him. He could only see a few feet ahead but that was okay. He'd make due. Reminding himself why he was here, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the compass. His heart sank, however, as he looked at the item illuminated by his blade. It had been broken when he fell down the hill! The glass was shattered and the red arrow was missing completely from the dial.
Almost laughing in pure disbelief, he tossed the now useless thing aside before shouldering his backpack and carrying on deeper into the darkness. Even though he didn't have the compass to lead him, he knew that whatever he was looking for was here in this valley. He'd eventually find it or so he hoped.
"It's just one damn thing after the other huh, Jackson. You just gotta keep moving forward."
Great, now he was talking to himself. Gods, he needed to get the fuck out of Tartarus. This place was causing his mind to slip. He needed to see the sun, the stars, and actual people again. When was the last time he had actually spoken to someone besides Polemus and Hybris? Days, weeks, months? He honestly wasn't keeping track. The only things that were on his mind were staying alive and escaping. Nothing else mattered.
"Just keep moving forward."
"Just keep moving forward."
"Just keep moving forward."
If only he knew at the time what awaited him in the darkness.