Chapter 31:
Elysium
The aircraft took flight into the screaming and raging heavens.
An endless snowstorm slammed and scraped against the walls outside. The snow and rain trailing the helicopter with a thousand fingers and trying to pull it down.
Zeus never liked the Son of Poseidon in his domain, and now it felt like the entire sky was coming down on them.
Icy winds howled as it coloured the small windows white, somehow, it felt like the snow was softening the impact of the Sky's wrath, turning heavy knocking into soft tapping.
The shockwaves brought forth by mighty unearthly forces clashing down on earth shook the helicopter and threatened to pull it back into the raging conflict that took place on the ground.
Through the coat of snow, through the haze of the storm, Percy could see 3 bright lights flicker.
The raw power held within these lights, even from this far away, even through the chaos of the sky, could be felt by Percy. Every fiber in his being became unstable by even just looking at them.
One light faded out of existence. Looking at them made his spine uncurl, broke apart his atoms and unwound his existence.
Percy turned his head away.
The weather became worse, more violent and vengeful. It felt like the wind was tossing them around, lightning flashed and lit up the sky as rain mercilessly kept banging against the metal walls and created a monotone tapping noise that somehow made Percy feel sick to his stomach.
He tried to focus on his surroundings. He hadn't paid attention to it before, due to the twin gods hunting them but now he could finally catch his breath, he did so.
A splitting headache wormed its way through Percy's brains. The aircraft took shape in front of him.
The area was a lot bigger on the inside than it should have been. The dimensions were all wrong. He swore it was a helicopter on the outside but now it looked like he was staring at an area that tried to be a helicopter.
Armed mortals were walking around the interior of the aircraft, but when he blinked he swore he saw a human with snakes for legs dragging a halbert across the floor.
Different kinds of equipment, crates and missiles were strapped to the ground or bound to the walls.
He saw Kampê and Nico disappear deeper into the impossibly large back of the helicopter. To where the cockpit should've been if it were a normal helicopter.
They were talking to one of the soldiers.
Confused, and not able to understand the contorted dimensions around him, Percy tried to focus and break through the headache.
The walls were covered with runes and Hieroglyphes, each one glowing and buzzing with power as his eyes slid past them. Except, there were no walls, he was not even inside a helicopter.
They were all on a massive boat that flowed through the air. Orbs were flying through the air and were carrying out tasks, such as tightening the rope, cleaning the deck or keeping watch.
Percy blinked.
They were on a large Norse ship. There was no sail and there were no spades. Instead an eight legged horse was pulling it forward while lightning danced in terrifying patterns around them.
He could feel the wind trying to push him off the deck. The tiny pricks of snow upon his skin and the constant rumbling of ever nearing thunder-
He was inside a normal helicopter. It was small and crowded. Kampé barely fit inside. The sound of rotor blades and heavy engines whirring was almost deafening.
Outside the storm was raging all the same.
What was that?
Next to him stood Nico. He was standing, holding onto one of the leather loops that hung from the ceiling.
Nico had a grave expression on his face.
He noticed Percy looking at him. He must have mistaken Percy's confused look for one of grief.
"It's fine," Nico reassured Percy. "We're going somewhere safe-" Nico struggled to find the words. He looked away from Percy. "Khione's sacrifice wasn't in vain. It won't be."
The last part sounded like Nico was talking to himself.
Percy slumped back.
Khione.
It all felt so wrong. Once again, the foundations he had managed to build were taken away by the Olympians.
Time after time, whenever he found something he could call home it was torn away. Violently ripped apart and he was forced to adapt.
But there usually was a reason, a twisted one at that, but a reason at least. This time there wasn't one. Only the result.
It felt so utterly wrong to him. The fact that he could do nothing.
He sat there in silence as the flight continued.
Nobody felt like speaking anyway. Hushed whispers were exchanged around Percy. Some of the soldiers on board sent subtle stares at him as they walked past.
Percy kept himself awake. He would fall into a pit of nightmares anyway if he were to close his eyes.
And so time passed.
The ride continued in relative silence. No one had anything to say. Kampê kept quiet;y watch and the son of Hades appeared to be lost in thought all alone.
Time continued to drag itself forward and eventually the darkness outside Percy's window was pushed away as a light broke through the storm.
Grudgingly, Percy moved his head and peered out of the window.
His neck hurt, his head hurt, every part of his body was sore.
Dawn had arrived at last
"We're there," Nico said at last.
"Tartarus is not big enough, this can't be right" said Kampê, her words were barely a whisper.
Percy looked out of the window.
He saw, his eyes witnessed yet his mind didn't accept it.
The human mind works like that at times. It just shut down when there was just too much. But Percy had seen far more than anyone else could, he had witnessed things and processed information that would shatter the mortal mind upon contact.
Now, he was once met with the threshold of his brains. They stared at the scene with a horrified numbness.
Underneath the chopper the earth was swarmed with monsters.
The mass of creatures stretched from one end of the horizon to the other. A hellish collection of legs, claws, wings, jaws and teeth. Monsters from every corner of unholy creation and even from beyond had gathered here.
Maggots. They were like maggots upon rotten flesh. A festering pool spat out by Tartarus.
Percy always felt like at some point he had seen it all. That he had fought every Greek monster in existence.
Today he only recognized a scarce few monsters in the horde. And the ones he did recognize already made his skin crawl. But the ones he didn't, they filled him with disgust.
Giants towered above the undead soldiers, dragons took flight and automatons marched to the sound of ghoulish screams and roars.
Those were monsters he could recognize at least.
He also saw things that shouldn't exist. Frozen corpses that crawled, giant wolves and snakes with the heads of men.
During the attack on Camp Jupiter or when the Earth herself had awoken and even in the depths of Tartarus, he had never witnessed armies this endless. This nightmarish.
And this legion of horribles was headed towards the center of the horizon.
"They can't see us," Nico said, breaking Percy's silence. "I don't know the technicalities, but to them we're what Celestial Bronze is to mortals."
That wasn't the only concerning thing to Percy.
Around them the sky itself was also a raging battlefield. Creatures of all shapes and forms took to the sky. Fireballs, lightning and beams of energy ripped through the horizon.
It was a wonder that they were still flying, though Percy started to realize there were no miracles involved. Some demigod ingenuity kept them flying through the weaving firestorms and carpet bombings.
Below hundreds of monsters were wiped out at a time yet the barrage never managed to slow down the endless march.
It wasn't just the sky that was fighting back, the land itself tried it hardest to rid itself from the divine plague.
The ground split open and swallowed entire legions. Rivers bellowed and raged outside their borders and drowned thousands and tree roots sprung up throughout the battlefield and strangled each monster they came across, though that too, failed to stop their advances.
"Where are they going?" Percy numbly asked.
"To the center of the world, where everyone wants to be."
The center of the world. Percy's gaze fixated on the horizon.
How he had missed it was beyond him, though at this point he wasn't surprised.
In the middle of the horizon loomed a shadow.
Elysium, the promised land outside the reach of the gods.
He barely recognized it, yet every puzzle piece fell into place. And though this place was stripped of all context, he could still recognize the shape of the land, the outline on the horizon and the heavy feeling in his gut.
He has been here before.
"You're kidding me," whispered Percy, his breath hitched and hand shaking.
Above the mountain in the distance the sky dipped lower, almost touching the earth below for a gentle touch.
The only thing that prevented the weight of the sky from crashing down was a titan.
"Welcome to Elysium," Nico said proudly. The helicopter continued on course for Mount Othrys. "This is the last stand of humanity."