The Nature of a Demigod

The Darkest Decay

[Percy's POV]

The bridge to Olympus was dissolving. We stepped out of the elevator onto the white marble walkway, and immediately cracks appeared at our feet.

"Jump!" Grover said, which was easy for him since he's part mountain goat. He sprang to the next slab of stone while ours tilted sickeningly. "Gods, I hate heights!" Thalia yelled as she and I leaped. But Annabeth was in no shape for jumping.

She stumbled and yelled in fright. Y/N caught her as the pavement gave way. I thought for a second that they might both go tumbling over the edge, but I snapped to my senses and managed to grab Y/N by the legs, and with the help of Thalia and Grover, we pulled them back over with us. We paused for a moment and caught our breath as all of our surroundings started falling apart.

"Keep moving!" Grover tugged my shoulder. We untangled ourselves and sprinted across the sky bridge as more stones disintegrated and fell into oblivion. We made it to the edge of the mountain just as the final section collapsed.

Annabeth looked back at the elevator, which was now completely out of reach. A polished set of metal doors hanging in space, attached to nothing, six hundred stories above Manhattan. "We're marooned," she said. "On our own."

"Blah-ha-ha!" Grover said. "The connection between Olympus and America is dissolving. If it fails-"

"The gods won't move on to another country this time," Thalia said. "This will be the end of Olympus. The final end."

"Well, let's make it the biggest pain in the ass of an end we can manage." Y/N said breathlessly. We ran through the streets. Mansions were

burning. Statues had been hacked down. Trees in the parks were blasted to splinters. It looked like someone had attacked the city with a giant Weedwacker.

"Kronos's scythe?" I asked in disbelief. "It can split a soul from the body. Of course it can do all of this." Annabeth informed.

We followed the winding path toward the palace of the gods. I didn't remember the road being so long. Maybe Kronos was making time go slower, or maybe it was just dread slowing me down. The whole mountaintop was in ruins-so many beautiful buildings and gardens were gone.

A few minor gods and nature spirits had tried to stop Kronos. What remained of them was strewn about the road: shattered armor, ripped clothing, swords and spears broken in half. Somewhere ahead of us, Kronos's voice roared: "Brick by brick! That was my promise. Tear it down BRICK BY BRICK!"

A white marble temple with a gold dome suddenly exploded. The dome shot up like the lid of a teapot and shattered into a billion pieces, raining rubble over the city.

"That was a shrine to Artemis," Thalia grumbled. "He'll pay for that." We were running under the marble archway with the huge statues of Zeus and Hera when the entire mountain groaned, rocking sideways like a boat in a storm.

"Look out!" Grover yelped. The archway crumbled. I looked up in time to see a twenty-ton scowling Hera topple over on us. I would've been flattened, but Thalia shoved me from behind and we landed just out of danger.

"Thalia!" Grover cried. When the dust cleared and the mountain stopped rocking, we found her still alive, but her legs were pinned under the statue.

We tried desperately to move it, but it would've taken several Cyclopes. When we tried to pull Thalia out from under it, she yelled in pain. "I survived all those battles," she growled, "and I get defeated by a stupid chunk of rock!"