A Moment of Stars | PJO Chaos

Twelve

If there is one thing Percy can take away from this, it's that running through a death-bitten forest while barely conscious and colour blind is much easier said than done.

However, the Libitinian doves didn't have much of a problem.

He keeps up beside Elara, legs burning and muscles crying in protest. The air is dry and cuts through his lungs with each and every breath. Whatever the dove did to him has completely impaired his vision; putting everything at a scale of indecipherable greys and dull whites, making it even harder to maneuver through the trees and branches.

He can hear the screeching and flapping of wings getting closer, making their escape even more desperate than before. Right when he feels the wind of their wings hit the back of his neck—

"GET DOWN!"

Percy cries out as he tumbles to the floor alongside Elara, who dragged him flat to the ground next to a large log. Her wings spread over them like a protective shield as the swarm of bleached birds fly directly over their heads—screaming and searching for them.

Her wings cover them much like a blanket. The feathers brush against his fingertips, and he's surprised to find that they were extremely soft despite the pure metallic coloring. Though with his eyesight failing him, he finds himself trying to decipher whether her wings are gold or a faded silver.

Percy looks up and narrows his eyes, noticing how the birds didn't even bother diving at them. He then remembers how there eyes were white...

"They're blind?" Percy whispers. Elara nods, gesturing for him to stay quiet until they all fly over. The two watch silently as the screeching death-birds swarm ahead of them through the forest. She finally takes her gaze off the doves in the far distance.

"I can't leave you." Elara finally states once they determined whether they are clear or not. "Not with those things on this planet. It's too dangerous, even for me."

Percy frowns. "Wait, you can die from those? I thought you were immortal?"

"I have partial immortality." She explains. "I should stop aging once I fully take the throne of Order, but like her and Chaos, I can still die in battle under certain circumstances."

Like a hunter of Artemis. Percy thinks. "So those things could kill you?"

"With my current state, absolutely. Now, let's get somewhere hidden before those things find us again. Are you able to stand?"

Percy attempts to lift his head, but fails immediately as his vision goes completely blank. What the Hades?

He blinks several times, trying to regain his sight but to no avail. His heart starts to pound in his chest as he realizes the situation. "I can't see, what did those things do?!"

Panic starts to rise in his throat, he grips the first thing he can touch, which so happens to be Elara's shoulders. She doesn't respond out of alarm though. Instead she gently sets her hand on his forearms, taking his death grip away from her and helping him sit up. "Calm down Percy. You need to breathe." Her normally commanding and formal voice drops to a soothing tone, as if trying to console a startled animal.

He's blind, and they're in the middle of the forest of his nightmares. Can it get any worse?

It always gets worse. honestly, what is he expecting in his life at this point?

He's seen the love of his life die, was killed by some entity and sent to the Void, is partway to fading, and now stranded on a planet with a stiff commander and no connection to any other aid. Not to mention that he's blind now, suffering from a pounding headache, and possibly dying(again) from whatever the Libitinian Doves hit him with.