A Moment of Stars || PJO Chaos [REWRITE]

All Bark No Bite

Percy runs.

He doesn't know why, nor does he know what he's running from. All he knows is that he doesn't want to find out.

His surroundings are obscure and unidentifiable. Shapes and dull colors fly past him in dim lighting, not giving him enough time to understand where he is. Not that he would take the time to do so, he's too focused on running from the thing pursuing him.

Danger danger danger. His alarm systems are going insane. Crackling sounds echo from underneath his feet as he steps on what he hopes are sticks and branches.

Then his body stops. He can't move, panic continues to build within him. What is happening? Why isn't he running? Sounds of his pursuer continue to get closer until he can feel it right behind him. He's trapped, he can't run anymore. This is how he dies—

In a blast of white light, his vision clears. He's in a forest filled with trees made of the darkest shade of black he's ever seen. It was a stark contrast compared to the pure, white dirt they stand out of, which suspiciously reminds him of powdered bone. Pain shoots down his spine, making him cry out. He still can't move, which makes the pain even worse over the fact he cannot curl in on himself.

"Isn't it perfect?" A voice says.

Goosebumps cover his entire body. If he could properly describe the sound, it would be one word: malice. Never would he have ever imagined a sentence filled with such violence and aggression, as if one wanted to watch the universe burn and laugh from the center of it.

A man comes into view, and Percy frowns. The man was a splitting image of Chaos. Tall stature, dark, trimmed hair, and a seemingly warm smile. He wore a pure white suit however, almost the complete opposite of the creator. Percy then looks up to fully examine his face and starts feeling dizzy.

One of his eyes was a dull, pale grey. If it weren't for the dark pupil, Percy would have assumed he was blind in that one. It was his other eye—or the lack of, that threw him off.

It looked as if his entire pupil had taken over the being's eye socket—except there was nothing there. Percy was looking into an abyss of where his eye should have been.

"Well?" The being says, expectant. His smile grows into something crueler and more sinister.

"What?" Percy whispers, at a loss for words.

The being turns to the broken forest. His fingers brush against one of the trunks of the blackened trees. Percy sucks in a sharp breath as the color instantly bleaches against the being's touch. Like the veins in ones' skin, the pure white bleeds into the trunk like a growing disease. Within seconds, the entire plant is engulfed and starts crumbling into pure white dust, becoming one with the ivory dirt below.

He watches in horror as the other trees begin bleaching to white, crumbling seconds after they become fully consumed. Soon enough, the entire forest is gone. Leaving the two alone in a world full of nothing.

"Now this—" The being gestures to the lack of surroundings. "—is how it should be. A blank canvas. After all: perfection is only true in absence." He turns to Percy, a smile completely wiped from his face, a dark expression replacing the one before. Shivers flow down Percy's spine. "This current form may be limiting, but all in due time." He starts walking towards the demigod, and it was then that Percy realizes he was able to move again.

Percy takes several steps away from him, not daring to take his eyes off of the unhinged man. The being's expression notices his apprehension, and smiles wide—teeth and all. Amusement filling his one eye as the other seems to darken into a deeper void.