The Silver Ring (PJO)

Chapter 35

The worst part of Tartarus wasn't the monsters. It wasn't drinking from the Phlegethon, nor walking through it. Instead, it was the fall down to Tartarus. 

I'm not a son of Zeus, which I'm thankful for. But that also meant I lived most of my demigod life in fear of the sky. I wasn't scared of heights. No, no. I was scared of falling from heights.

So when I fell from Void's room, you could probably understand why I was screaming like a . . . a boy. A boy who didn't go through puberty yet. My brain was so intent on screaming that I was fifteen feet from crashing through a street vendor's cart full of fruits before my instincts kicked in and I mist traveled away. (All the people had evacuated the nearby vicinity, not wanting to get pegged by a human-sized bird that could scream like a banshee.)

Only to realize that I reappeared right back in Void's castle. Outside of the dungeon. Right in front of two new guards.

In my defense, mist traveling wasn't an automated process which I just think of the location and I'm there. Instead, I have to take the time and focus to break myself up into infinitesimal particles, imagine them moving towards the desired location, then build myself up again.

I usually get a bit distracted at the moving-towards-desired-location part, but that's better than reappearing with one of my feet grafted onto my forehead. Fortunately, it's never happened before, but the mere thought of it makes me direct most of my attention towards rebuilding myself up.

The guards seemed to be newly-trained, since within minutes both were on the floor, out cold. All it took was either a sucker punch to the head or a collision with one of the stone walls.

I calmly walked out of there, as though I owned the place. By now, it was early morning, meaning I passed a lot of people in the hallway. They glanced at me curiously but didn't stop me. Eventually, I realized that the extremely plagiarized insignia of Void had disappeared from my uniform, freeing me from any copyright infringement charges, but also making me stand out.

Knowing that I slightly increased my pace. The balcony Alina had teleported from was a few minutes away. A few seconds later, a masculine voice yelled out to me, "Hey!" 

I spun around, seeing one of the Generals I beat in training coming towards me, fast. I knew I was done for when he pulled out his sword, a look of recognition on his face. So broke into a run towards the balcony with the General following, albeit a minute behind.

I spun around the corner, appearing in the hallway that led to the balcony. I burst through the doors. Even though I was getting chased, I stopped for a moment to appreciate the beautiful sunrise. Then I prepared to mist travel . . .

Only to think of a stupid, stupid idea. I turned around and dove behind one of the walls supporting the glass doors a moment before the General rounded the corner. His steps were slow and unsure, knowing I could jump out of any of the doors in that hallway. 

It took him a while to do a full, thorough sweep of the rooms. When he entered the balcony through the open doors—which should've been a warning—his guard seemed to be lowered, as though he thought I had run away into another part of the castle—or I had teleported away.

He never bothered to sweep the balcony, probably thinking nobody would hide in plain sight, outside. He sighed and looked at the sunrise in awe, dropping his sword to the side. That's when I made my move.

From my standing position, I leaped at him like a cat catching a mouse. Sensing danger, he turned towards me, sword slowly rising, but not fast enough. I took ahold of his shirt with one hand and the wrist of his sword hand with the other. Then I bashed his hand on the outside stone of the castle so hard that he lost control of his tendons, making him drop his sword.