The Silver Ring (PJO)

Chapter 22

A/N-Bonus chapter today. Enjoy!

-------------------------------------------------------------

Before I could do that Herculean task, I had to do one more important thing.

Make sure Atlantis was safe.

I ran out of the room, following the faint shouting of soldiers; they were probably a few miles away. 

It was easier said than done; in a regular house, the hallways were straight and practical. But in my Dad's castle, the hallways were . . . a maze to say the least. There were hundreds—probably thousands—of hallways which looked the exact same, with repeating blue doors.

Every time the shouting got a bit louder, I thought I was going on the right path, only to be spit out right where I started.

On the twenty-sixth time this happened, I faced reality and knew that running pointlessly around would not work.

Then I started running again.

I was starting to get tired, when I remembered my abilities again. Mist travel!

I felt like laughing at my ridiculousness when I reappeared next to the front gate without resistance, staring at the palace. 

I could hear thousands of people shouting in agony behind me, and my ears immediately started blocking up in pain. I turned around, holding Riptide out in one hand . . . 

Only for a black arrow to pierce my other arm. 

I screamed in pain and clasped my wound tightly, letting Riptide slowly sink to the ground. The pain was so bad I fell to my knees, indirectly dodging another arrow that was headed towards my face. How are they firing arrows underwater?!

The pain immediately began to diminish, thanks to the water around me. I could see many Atlantean soldiers attacking what seemed to be a demigod—or human—army dressed in black armor. Fortunately, the Atlanteans seemed to be winning; I could only see a few dead mermen with black arrows sticking from their armor, while there were hundreds from the other side on the ground. 

I pulled the arrow out of my arm, screaming again as the barbs caught on my skin. It felt as though somebody had stabbed me with a hot blade, then poured lemon juice into the wound.

Fortunately, the skin started building up at an inhuman rate since I was underwater, and I could only feel a dull throbbing.

I picked up Riptide and charged into battle, slashing and slicing at anything not wearing blue armor. 

Some of the nearby mermen looked towards me in confusion until they recognized who I was. 

"Prince Perseus!" one called out to me as they knocked one of the soldiers out with the hilt of her sword. She had golden highlights on her armor, showing she was important, like a captain or general. "What are you doing here?"

I saw a flash of light lastly approaching towards the mermaid. I dove through the sea of people and deflected the arrow, kicking one of the soldier's in the groin. He folded like a piece of paper, and a burly, heavily tattooed merman uppercutted him so hard that he flew through the air for a couple of seconds, then bowled over some of his comrades. 

"I felt like helping!" I shouted. "Where's my Dad?" I sidestepped a thrust and knocked out another soldier. 

"In there!" I followed the mermaid's gaze to a spot where there were thousands of soldiers in black armor congregating on one human. Or, more specifically, a god. As I was fighting, I could see Dad killing soldiers left and right with his trident.

"Are these guys humans?" 

"Seems like it. they keep on coming. But my guess is as good as yours," the mermaid said. "Although they can move naturally underwater, and even shoot."

"Yeah. I've noticed that." I winced as I remembered what had happened a few minutes ago. 

Two of the "humans" seemed to grow brains and tried double-teaming me, one from both sides. I just simply ducked, letting both of their spears fly over me and hit the other person. 

I stepped back for a little breathing room, letting another soldier take my place. As I looked over the battlefield, I realized that the Atlantean soldiers had made a simple human wall around the gate, letting the exhausted soldiers rest for a bit in safety while the others blocked the army.

I tried to look for Dad again, but I couldn't see any blue within the dark masses. After a bit of searching though, I found him far away. Then I realized something important.

"Wait. There's nobody with him?"

The captain shook her head while taking a dozen enemies out with a complex maneuver, showing her skill. "Lord Poseidon refused our requests to accompany him, and ordered us to hold the wall."

"I'll go help him."

The captain glanced at me. "Are you sure, Milord?" She didn't seem very surprised.

"Yes. Just make sure you're being careful."

She nodded to two nearby soldiers who, for a split second, stepped farther away from each other, opening a gap in the "wall." I quickly stepped in, killing soldiers left and right. They were in my Dad's territory, killing his people. My brother's people. My people. 

Slowly and steadily, I worked my way towards the last place I saw my dad. There was no turning back now, and it took all my focus to keep from dying. Even worse, the soldiers seemed to know who I was, since they started focusing on me, attacking simultaneously from all sides and making it harder for me to gain ground while making sure to not get wounded. For every soldier I killed, two more seemed to take their place, making it seem as though Nyx had recruited them as cannon fodder. Almost as though this was a big distraction.

That train of thought led to another, which led to another. Eventually I realized what was going to happen.

"No!" I roared as Nyx appeared onto the battlefield a few yards away from me, easily distinguishable with her deadly aura, drawing my attention to my Dad, who had his full attention on fighting the soldiers in front of him, leaving his back exposed. I fought as twice as hard to get to them. "Nyx! You better not!"

The soldiers had changed their strategy from trying to kill me to trying their best to stop me from moving towards Nyx, confirming my fears.

I was full-on panicking now. I pushed through the soldiers' ranks, not caring if I got wounded or not: A spear stabbed me in the calf, making me hobble; and arrow hit my other arm, making me grimace in pain; and a sword stabbed me through the chest, making me fall to the ground.

I roared in pain and anger, making dozens of soldiers near me disintegrate into water. That would've been helpful earlier. 

The way towards Nyx was clear, but I was too wounded to move. The only thing I could do was watch helplessly as she restrained Dad with shadows and opened up a portal to what seemed to be a throne room made of dark materials. She grinned at me cruelly before stepping into the other side, towing my struggling dad with her. Then, the portal closed.

I'll fully admit it; I lost it. I screamed in sorrow, anger, pain, and helplessness. The ground started rumbling violently, throwing all the soldiers off-balance. The tugging in my gut got stronger and stronger, then turned into extreme agony..

 I screamed one last time before succumbing to my blood loss and surrendering to the darkness.