House of Hades: Percy Alone.

Chapter 3

Percy had been sitting at the beach for quite a long time. he sat ever so still, trying to rap his mind around the circumstances.

He'd been to Olympus. that was a scary enough place, filled with crazy gods that probably wanted him dead. he'd been to a number of scary places during his "quests" as a demigod, a pawn of the gods. heck he'd even been to the underworld, which is probably the most dangerous place for a hero to ever have a quest.

But this was Tartarus. This was a whole other level. This was a kind of horror Percy supposed to see. This was a place where no other person had escaped from. Sure, Nico had survived here, but the only reason why Nico had gotten out was because he was kidnapped by the giants. Yea, this was the kind of place where getting knocked out and placed in a metal jar by the children of Gaea was the better alternative. Percy didn't think he would be as lucky.

Percy turned his attention to the landscape he was on. behind him, he could still here the creepy river rushing behind him, the churning of water masking the whispers of despair underneath. Percy tried not to pay attention to the river, he figured if he listened to it for too long he would lose the strength to carry on.

When he looked up, he couldn't even see the hole that he had come from. red mist hung in the air, like vaporized blood, gathering in vast clouds. those clouds were not only above him, but around him as well. the thick gas covered the rocky landscape, so that he could only see so far forward. not only was it thick, it was heavy. the mist felt to Percy like it was weighing down on him, almost pressing him down against the rock

No not rock. Glass. the material the beach was made of, and the rest of the landscape as far as Percy could tell, was made from long jagged pieces of black glass. The material seemed to glow ever so slightly, as if there was a soul burning with hatred within every single shard.

Then Percy saw something. A streak of white against the black landscape. What was that? He saw a strand it had found itself close to him. Maybe it was rope, or some other resource he could use. He pulled himself toward it, accidentally cutting himself against the shards of glass. When he grasped the material in his hands, He realized it was much to soft to be useful in any way, it was much to sticky, much to stretchy. It was... web.

Arachne

The spider had fallen through the hole before him. What if she was still alive? Percy had to kill her. She couldn't be allowed to live. Not after what she had done to Annabeth.

Percy got up, trip, and fell over again. He had lost much more strength than he thought. His body felt like hadn't. Slept in several days, and his numerous cuts and bruises hurt much more than they should have. In spite of the pain, or maybe because of it, Percy forced himself onto his feet once more. Painfully, he managed to limp forward, following the silk strewn across the glass like a ant following a trail of honey. A very angry, depressed ant with murder on his mind, that is.

Percy's breath grew short. He stumbled once, than again. His eyes burned against the red mist that filled the air. Walking through Tartarus alone was a challenge that seemed almost unbearable. It made his previous battles against monsters trivial, easy even. Now he could barely put one foot in front of the other, his mind could only form addled thoughts.

the river that was whispering to him was now quite far behind him. he couldn't see anything through the smoke. every direction he looked was the same. red mist above and black glass below. then Percy saw a change in the landscape. a shape emerged from the red mist in front of him, a kind of lump. it was a hatchback, a fiat. the one of the cars that fell along with Arachne. As Percy got closer to it, he saw that it was entangled with the spider's webs.

Percy was getting closer to her, he knew it. he could feel it in his blood. he looked at the trail of silk Arachne had left behind. looking forward, he saw it lead to an orange glow in the distance. His heat sensitive eyes picked up enormous amounts of heat from that direction. a fire is the only thing that could be that hot. but what kind of of fire was as large as the thing he was looking at?

Percy resumed his stumble toward that direction. Now he could feel the heat of whatever was in front of him against his face, and he felt slightly better. No, better wasn't the word. He felt more tired than ever, and the heat against his face hurt. but he didn't feel like collapsing. He hated the pain, but he felt that he could, he should endure more of it now.

Percy reached a ledge, and he looked over it. What he saw amazed him. The ledge, or cliff rather, was at least as large as the grand canyon, as far as Percy could tell. At the bottom, a river of pure fire coursed through the canyon, radiating immense heat straight at him. it wasn't lava, but nor was it the kind of fire you see in a campfire. it was more of an energy than an actual thing. fire carved into ropes, slithering through on another. probably the scariest, it looked like it was being contained, pressed against the floor by some unknown force. Percy could only imagine how terrible it would be if that force wasn't there to hold it back. he looked left, in the direction the river flowed. it kept going, almost completely straight, until he could no longer see it.

But Percy saw someone else by the cliff, something else. a large black figure with its head hung, as if it was praying, or hopefully almost dead. Strength returned to Percy's body, not from rejuvenation but from hate. the the short time He saw Annabeth before he fell, Percy saw how Much pain this creature had caused her, Percy saw how much fear was in her eyes.

"ARACHNE" Percy bellowed. his voice was much deeper than he expected, and incredibly raspy. as if he had aged several decades in the time he had been in Tatarus.

The weaver turned to face him. Her face was tired, but when she saw Percy, saw his expression, she met it with one of her own. "So you share my fate? you fell into this.."

Percy didn't wait for her to finish her sentence. He didn't have riptide, but he didn't care. scooping a shard of the black from the ground, he propelled himself right into Arachne. in on swift movement, Percy stabbed her, putting the dagger-like object straight between her eyes.

"AAARRGGGHH" Arachne bellowed, grasping her face, and the object inserted in it. but Percy waan't done. dropping down, Percy rolled under the spider's vast abdomen, and began wreaking havoc there. grasping at more shards, he pushed then one by one into Arachne, doing his best to cause pain.

Percy's body went on auto pilot.

roll.

grab.

stab.

but even as his body moved, his mind was highly aware of what was happening. he was killing Arachne, in the most brutal way he had ever killed a monster. He was aware of the spider's deading screams as he ripped her apart. he could feel her blood oozing through his fingers.

In a final act of gruesome spite, Percy grasped her leg, and pulled, with full intent of completely severing it.

wrong move. instead of it coming off as he had expected, the whole body tumbled forward... and of the cliff. Percy had forgotten where he was. too late, Arachne's limp body dragged him down, and he fell of the cliff along with it. Percy stared, eyed open wide as the river of fire raced toward him. he tried to brace himself, but the burning heat had already taken his consciousness.

Percy fell into the river, with his hands still firmly wrapped around Arachne's leg

hey guys

sorry i tried to get this up yesterday but i was a bit overwhelmed with schoolwork. anyways I'll try to get another chapter up next week, but it the meantime enjoy this pretty long chapter

please send me your thoughts on this chapter, i am open to feedback