Confused by Time (Percy Jackson fanfic) (currently being rewritten)

Chapter 31 - Mother Earth

Percy could hear the monsters screeching behind him and hellhounds howling as they chased him. Clouds hung like vaporised blood above him, and the ground was a dark purple. Rocks lay discarded around him.

The monsters were coming from everywhere now, and he'd been running for what he guessed was several days straight – going round in circles. He could have sworn he'd seen that boulder before. He clenched his jaw and weaved around an orange cocoon, a half-formed hellhound lying in the golden liquid. He could clearly see its heart beating beneath translucent skin.

An empousa leapt at him from the darkness and he slashed it apart with Riptide, changing his direction slightly as more monsters started calling from where he'd been heading.

It was like they were herding him somewhere.

He scrambled over a harpy lying on the ground, its wings torn off – likely by a hellhound – and ran on. The air suddenly became colder and Percy slowed down slightly, his gut warning him away from what was ahead. And a hellhound pounced on him from behind, knocking him over. Percy yelped and cut wildly behind him, hearing the hellhound snarl as it was vaporised. He scrambled back to his feet, almost falling over when his tiredness hit him full force. He was tempted to sleep there and then, but knew he'd die if he did. A few more hours of running, he told himself, then sleep.

He took several slow steps as he regained his sense of direction, and then he started running again. The ground sloped down in front of him, getting colder with every step he took until he felt his blood slowing down in his veins as it started to freeze. He pushed himself on harder, trying to warm himself up. The cold air slammed into the back of his throat with each breath, making him wish for water of some sort – anything to drink. He ran on.

His gut was hurting now as it tried to warn him away, but he couldn't. The monsters were all behind him. The only way to go was forward.

Percy took another step and fell into a compression in the ground. He tumbled down, rolling over until he reached the bottom. He groaned and pushed himself up, his arms shaking as they bore his weight. Tartarus, he thought, help me. He knew it was unlikely. The Primordial was probably busy elsewhere, but his eyes widened when the ground rumbled slightly beneath his hands – enough for him to know Tartarus was watching.

Struggling back to his feet, Percy looked around the compression. Monsters were hovering around the top, but none of them dared to come any closer. Percy frowned, his gaze flitting over the orange liquid filled bubble beside him. If he could get to the top of the bubble, he could jump out, he thought as he eyed the distance between the bubble's top and the edge of the compression.

The demigod took a cautious step forward, testing the strength of the golden sheet holding whatever was inside the bubble together. Percy frowned and tried to see what was inside it. He shrugged, seeing that the liquid was too thick to see anything more than a faint outline.

He took a step onto the bubble, swearing when his shoe sunk right through the outer layer and quickly withdrawing his foot, glaring at the bubble when he saw it had swallowed his shoe.

Percy made a split second decision and moved to the other side of the bubble. He took a breath and scrambled straight onto it. The whole thing promptly burst, sending Percy slamming against the side of the compression. The son of Poseidon wiped his face off on his arm, getting the gunk off his face. He froze when he was that it was gold. Only immortals had gold reforming bubbles, as he'd come to call them.

His gut was incredibly painful now, screaming at him to run. Percy did the opposite. He was the adopted son of Tartarus – he could take them.