ɪ'ʟʟ ꜱᴇᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ ᴡʜᴇɴ ɪ ᴇꜱᴄᴀᴘᴇ ✯

The Darkness Within Us All

Percy blinked and the world slowly came into view... or not. He glanced, straining his eyes to see something, anything, but it was in vain. It was as if someone had placed a blindfold over his eyes.

Then, he felt a long fingered hand brush his cheek.

"Rest, young godkiller. I do not seek to harm you."

He closed his eyes, too tired to disagree with the smooth, unearthly tone of the woman speaking.

————————————————-

The next time he gained consciousness, he was no longer in complete darkness. Instead, he appeared to by lying on the cool onyx floor in a soft bundle of a moss-like substance.

"Hello?" He called out, his voice echoing around the otherwise uninhabited and empty room.

A women stepped out of the shadows cast by the dimly lit torches.

"I see you have awoken. We need to talk."

Percy scrambled backwards, drawing his sword. He backed into a column and raised his weapon threateningly, fear racing through his heart. Something about this lady radiated power.

"Wha- who are you? What do you want?!" He cried, although he was pretty sure she was some sort of goddess that wanted to smite him.

She laughed, her glossy black hair swaying in the nonexistent wind as she tossed back her head.

"I want to help you, of course."

This did nothing whatsoever to soothe his nerves. Even if this lady did have good intentions, which he doubted, immortals didn't always have great ideals of right and wrong. Their idea of help often consisted of harrowing trials and deadly quests.

"How so?" He questioned.

She surveyed him, as if she was sizing him up.

"You're an odd case, little godkiller. I'm curious to see what you surmount to be."

Although he was still skeptical, Percy decided to accept her response... for now.

"Fine. But you still haven't answered my question. What. Do. You. Want. With. Me!"

"I want to give you my blessing."

Percy froze, unable to speak. WHAT?!

—————————————————

"Look, I'm sorry, I think this pit is making me go deaf. Would you mind repeating that, I'm afraid I misheard." (Heh this is what I would say)

"Misheard? I'm afraid not. I'm here to give you my blessing."

He laughed in her face. Heh, a goddess that didn't want to kill him. It was obviously some kind of trap.

"What exactly does this blessing involve? Gruesome torture? Spontaneous combustion? Excruciating pain?" He asked sarcastically.

"Of course not!" She exclaimed, sounding genuinely offended.

A few days ago, Percy would have backed down and considered trusting her, but he wasn't that naive now. Tartarus was a place of traitors and murderers. It was kill or be killed, torture or be tortured. He couldn't afford to be weak. (What have they done to you Percy! 😭)

His hand resting on his drakon sword, he gazed up into the primordial's swirling dark eyes.

"Prove it."

She sighed, then snapped her fingers. He tensed, prepared to have to fight of a terrible curse or run from a blast of shadows, but she simply pulled out a pen.

His pen.

He felt panic flare inside of him as the Goddess of Night held up Anaklusmos. Before he knew what was happening, the ground before him trembled and cracked in two before a great wave of poison and water rushed towards Nyx.

Eyes wide, he watched as an enormous wall of shadows erupted in front of the tidal wave of death. For a moment, water and darkness clashed, before they both imploded onto each other and dissolved into a slightly toxic-looking cloud of dust.

"That was not the reaction I was expecting." Night deadpanned, tossing him Riptide.

Clutching the pen in his hand and his other sword in the other, he glared at the goddess.

"Explain."

Sorry for the crappy chapter. It was more of a filler than anything, but I tried to add a little drama near the end, not sure if it worked. Being the terrible writer I am, I'm not sure if I have the Akhlys scene or this one the credit it deserved, but I tried my best 🤷🏻‍♀️.

~🌊