Child of Sea Prince of Shadow

Chapter 8: The terrors of Hell

About a mile into the tunnel Annabeth dropped her pace slightly till she was next Perseus.

"Is this tunnel what I think it is?" she asked, her voice indicating that she really didn't want to know the answer.

"Yes it is."

"So you're taking us to the underworld?" the girl asked again.

"Yes."

The gears in her head now moving at rapid speeds, Annabeth started asking more questions than Percy felt like answering.

"Is Hades the traitor? Why else would we be down here? Are you still working for him?" Taking a deep breath Percy pushed back the minor frustration before responding.

"No Hades is not the traitor. We are here because we need safe passage, and I am moving on now. The fates are calling me elsewhere so I will leave. He will understand." The daughter of Athena still had to know more. Honestly it was starting to amuse him.

"But you're a child of Poseidon right? That means your fatal flaw should be loyalty."

Well it was until she said that.

"That fool is no father of mine. Besides my mother always said that our lineage made it harder to trust people. Never really got what she meant by that."

There was a few seconds of silence before the next question.

"Do you trust us? The people on the quest I mean."

"No." It was simple but spoke volumes. Annabeth began to move away from Perseus as the demigod slung the Neamon lion pelt off his back. Curiosity caused the daughter of Athena to pause for a second. Easily Perseus extended the pelt toward her. "Take it." As Annabeth was about to respond Perseus slid the pelt around her shoulders so it draped around her.

"Why?" she managed.

"I made a deal and I always stick to my word."

Annabeth was about to pry more but then Phoebe ran back and started yelling at Perseus for 'attempting to corrupt a good maiden'.

A few miles into the tunnel Zoe heard the continuous questions Annabeth was throwing at Perseus. She had heard that Perseus was leading them to the underworld, but it hadn't mattered. It was obvious where they were going. Grudgingly Zoe saw the logic in Perseus's decision. Distance worked differently in magical areas. If things went their way (Which they never did) they would cross the country in less than a day with an escort of underworld security. This little shortcut also explained why Perseus didn't try to bring the daughter of Zeus who had been fuming after the choices had been made. It would be hard to get any help from Hades with the daughter of his least favorite relative with them. Zoe was broken from her thoughts by the daughter of Ares moving to walk next to her, clearly wanting to talk. Turning to Phoebe, Zoe came up with the best excuse she could to keep her away for a little bit.

"Phoebe go make sure Perseus isn't trying to corrupt the daughter of Athena." Happily the other hunter ran back and started chewing out the son of Poseidon who from his lack of responses, was ignoring her.

"Yes, Clarisse?" Zoe tone held no disrespect.

"What happened between you and mister creepy during the lion attack?"

Zoe flinched internally but showed nothing under the girls searching gaze.

"I don't know what you're talking about." After a few seconds Clarisse turned away, shrugging.

"As long as it doesn't get us killed."

Line Break

The rest of the trip was silent as if all of the group was finally letting it sink in that they were going into the middle of Hell itself. This was only broken near the end by the terrifying screams of pain and agony.

"I'm assuming were almost there," Clarisse muttered sarcastically as Annabeth who stood next to her shuddered. Perseus made his way to the front of the group just as the cave opened up revealing the Fields of Punishment in all their glory. Perseus's voice snapped all his quest mates' attention away from the fires of the area.

"As bad as it looks the place isn't all that terrible since we weren't sentenced. There should be security everywhere. All we have to do is find one patrol who can escort us to Hades palace. Once were there we can leave fairly easily." As the others soaked in the plan, Percy mentally planned for when things went wrong.

Zoe was more than a little nervous. Of course she didn't show it but it was there. Walking through the place where the worst villain's in history that weren't immortal were all within a few miles from each other was more than a little disturbing. Of course the screams of unbearable agony and the cackling laughter didn't help much. There was no way this plan worked. Looking around the huntress tried to take in the surrounding eternal torment and try to guess which evil psychopath's it was.

All around the group was the crumbling buildings and landmines everywhere. Then she saw a burned and torn flag that instantly confirmed her suspicions about whose prison they were in. Sitting there in tons of pieces was the Nazi swastika. That's when things went wrong. All around them the mines starting exploding. Being the first to act Perseus threw a shield of darkness around the group. With an earth shaking explosion, the small dome of blackness shattered. Plunging out of the smoke a figure threw itself at Perseus and tackled the demigod to the ground and into the suffocating smoke. Around the rest of the group were silhouettes of what could only be monsters. Forming into a circle the girl's faces hardened as they now faced a mob of at least fifty Dracanae, Cyclops and Empousa. Screaming one of the Empousa lunged and not a second later was golden dust, an arrow having gone through its heart. Rage evident on their faces the rest of the monsters charged.

Still a little caught off guard Percy managed to land a punch straight on his attackers face giving him the little leg room he needed to launch the man off of him. Summoning Judgment into his hand, Percy braced himself for an attack but one didn't come. As the smoke cleared the demigod only narrowed his gaze when his suspicion of his attacker was confirmed. Standing not five yards from him stood Adolf Hitler, looking very much alive as he drew a long sleek gray sword.

"I see you still have that delusion of world domination. You're dead Hitler give it up!" Percy stated calmly as the man across from him just grinned sadistically. An insane laughter spilled from the Nazi's lips as he stared down the demigod in front of him.

"I don't need to destroy the world anymore. He came back. He said he would keep his side of the deal." By now the humor was gone from the deceased son of Hade's face. "All I have to do is kill YOU!" the questions forming in Percy's mind as Hitler lunged at him letting out a yell.

Percy let his mind go on autopilot as he analyzed his opponents fighting style. Despite his ruthless streak, Hitler's fighting style was graceful and elegant. The gray sword snaked at Percy trying to break his defenses. Being the physically weaker of the pair made it near impossible for Percy to overpower his opponent. After Hitler overextended himself slightly too much Percy side stepped and brought one side of Judgment in a slash meant to sever his opponent's sword arm from his body. Hitler was able to react just enough so that the blade only left a deep cut. Good, but not enough to disable the arm. Hitler took a few steps back quickly examining his arm.

"Even with all this preparation it still seems I have underestimated you Perseus. It is a shame that such talent should be wasted. Join me and the world will be ours within days. Picture it. Two children of darkness engulfing the world in it. Take this offer and I know beings who can give you far more power than you could imagine."

"The world needs a light, Hitler not a darkness. Your rule would tear it apart, not save it like you plan." Percy tried to remain calm. Hitler was powerful, impossibly so. The guards should have detected and increase in demigod powers within seconds of it happening. There was no way Hitler did this alone.

A wicked grin spread across the dead Nazi's face. "If this world needs a light then why would you of all people try to save it? Your power feeds upon the humans fear. The Olympians themselves are scared of your power. Now tell me again why on earth you are pretending to be some sort of savior?"

"None of your business dead-man, or do you believe your talk will make me stop fighting?"

"Today child you have sealed your fate," and just like that Percy was back on the defensive. The wound seemed to only energize Hitler as his moves were faster, boulder, more precise. Sweat pouring down his face Percy managed to grab a throwing knife out of his hoodie pocket and threw it straight at his adversaries face. With unexpected speed, Hitler moved out of the way and gripped the knife handle straight out of the air. Not wasting a second the knife was thrown straight back at Percy, catching the demigod in the ribs. Merely grunting in pain the son of Poseidon yanked the weapon of his skin, letting it drop to the ground. His eyes now housing small flames of hellfire Percy summoned spikes of shadow that shot at the son of Hades. Effortlessly the attacks were swatted away. Once again Hitler began laughing.

"A battle of powers it is!" covering himself in an armor of moving shadow Hitler launched off the ground straight at Percy who was now covered in his own armor of flaming shadows. The pair roared as the collided, the power on display threw the surrounding darkness into a visible tornado. Now locked in a clash of blades, the fighters were locked into a battle of pure power, neither able to escape due to the other. Chunks of hellish earth flew around the pair as the pure power tore both clothes armor and flesh. Grimacing Percy poured everything he could into his sword. Finally the odds tipped and the younger demigod's power crashed upon Hitler. The darkness ripped at the warlord, tearing his flesh to pieces until finally with one final scream he was gone, disintegrated into the air. One glance of conformation that the warlord was dead, was all Percy got before the world around him started to go black and he fell into a pair of arms.

When Percy had vanished, the monsters closed. Zoe and Phoebe acted first, each drawing their bows and putting an arrow thorough a monsters face. In another second both Annabeth and Clarisse had their weapons drawn and bracing for the attack. Zoe only had time to put an arrow into two more monsters before they were on them and her bow had to be switched out for a pair of silver hunting knives. A Cyclops was the first to reach the huntress and lead with a massive punch which Zoe easily dodged. Before the monster could blink it had a gaping hole across its stomach. The next one fell just as easily. Zoe moved with grace only thousands of years in the company of Artemis could give you as she ducked and weaved through multiple monsters at a time. Her blades moved with lightning speed whenever a monster showed any opening.

A scream of pain to her left distracted Zoe just long enough for her to be bashed in the face with the butt of a Dracanae's sword. Reflexively her silver bow appeared in her hands as she was already aiming an arrow into the monster. Less than a second later, the creature was dust. She knew she would not like what she saw, but Zoe looked toward the direction of the scream. The broken body of Phoebe fell from the grasp of a Cyclops as Annabeth ran her knife through the beast. A scream of anguish ripped from Zoe, a scream that mixed with the battle-cry of another.

The man came out of nowhere, his sword and shield glowing as he smashed into the remaining monsters. Each motion of his heavy looking weapon smashing though the defenses of whatever monster was in its path. His shield was clearly in the hands of a master as it was slammed into the face of a Dracanae that got to close. The monsters never stood a chance. When the last monster was dust and the man turned toward her, Zoe was shocked. It was a face she thought she would never see again.

"Where's Perseus!?" That's when the darkness around them exploded.

"He must be in some deep crap if he's traveling with you guys," Achilles asked Zoe.

After the explosion, the legendary warrior and Zoe had rushed to the sight of the blast, just in time for Achilles to catch Perseus before he could crumple to the ground. Blood had been flowing from the son of Poseidon's ribs, giving the impression that he was dead. Now they were now in a circle as Achilles was slowly bandaging Perseus's wound. The son of Poseidon's hoodie had seemingly repaired itself, for there wasn't a single hole in it.

Zoe only gave a nod in response to Achilles's question. She was not going to talk to a man, much less one who was so much like Heracles. A snort followed the girl's silent answer.

"Oh right, the whole I hate men thing," easily Achilles shifted his gave to the other two demigods "I don't suppose that either of you would like to kindly like to fill me in?" Neither girl said anything for a second before both composed themselves. Although neither was in the search for a man, Achilles was hard to miss. Even in death he looked like a god with his classic Greek warrior look.

"Lady Artemis is being held some-where in the west, the Oracle told us to find her," Annabeth answered. She had only been scratched in the fight, the most prominent being one across her left arm. Achilles had deemed it nothing permanent and had handed her a huge band-aid.

"Do you know who got her?" Even though the group only shook their head, Zoe could feel the old warrior's eyes bearing into her skull. "Shame, so your plan was to just head west though the Underworld?"

"It was Perseus's plan," Zoe said though clenched teeth, "And now Phoebe is dead because of it." Annabeth and Clarisse suddenly found interest in the concrete flooring of Hitler's imprisonment.

"I'm sure that your friend knew the risks of going on a quest. Her life in the hunt was one of battle. Perseus was only trying to get you where you needed to go as quickly as possible. If you tried to make it above ground you probably wouldn't have even left the east coast by now. "

He was right and Zoe knew it, but when she thought of Phoebe's lifeless eyes she couldn't think logically. Achilles had called in some skeleton guards who had wrapped and carried away the girl's body. A few of those guards now stood a few yards away, guarding the temporary camp. "Come on let's get moving, Elysium isn't that much farther from here." Achilles stood and held Perseus in both his arms, careful not to aggravate his ribs. As the skeletons tightened their formation, one began clicking furiously, pointing behind the group.

Something shifted on top of the building the skeleton had pointed to. It formed into something human like. When the thing jumped off the roof and landed on the street merely yards away, the group could tell it was anything but.

The thing was massive, easily clearing eight feet in height. Its entire body was a mass of fire that seemed shaped around something that resembled a human. Its eyes were only distinguishable due to how the fire there was a deeper shade of red then the rest of the flames. A massive spear was strapped across its back, its elegant red metal holding onto the creature as if were made of flesh. Not even affected by the drop, the creature began moved toward the group with long, purposeful strides.

Two of the skeleton guards detached from the group and began firing their weapons at the monster, which didn't even look tickled. As the rest of the guard took up positions, Achilles snapped the girls out of their trances and urge them toward Elysium.

"We have to go, by the time we get to Elysium Hades will have gotten news and send in countermeasures!" Zoe decided to spare one last glance back.

All the skeletons were behind some sort of cover, unloading all of their bullets into the beast. Then Zoe saw the fire.

It seemed to flow out of the monster and pool around its feet, then shooting off in streaks across the floor of the underworld like lightning. Each bot would strike a skeleton, exploding upon impact, taking the skeleton and everything around it. Zoe turned and ran, true fear gripping her.

"What the heck is that?" Clarisse yelled as the group sprinted after Achilles, who was still clutching Perseus in his arms.

"I have no freaking idea," the dead warrior yelled back.

The group broke out of the fields and into Apostol and came to a grinding halt. In front of them stood the River Styx. Its clogged green waters shone in front of them, just as the paradise of Elysium which couldn't have more than a hundred yards away on the other side of the river.

"Did we lose it?" Annabeth panted out, sweat covering her face like the rest of the group. Zoe's bow appeared in her hands, as she notched and fired an arrow in the blink of an eye. It sailed straight toward the ground, until it collided with one of the fire bolts that was headed straight for Achilles. Through the ashes the fire creature walked out, spear held in its left hand. No more streaks came as the thing slowly strode toward Achilles.

"Why does it hate you so much if you've never seen it?" Zoe yelled at the warrior. His face was cloaked in horror.

"It wants Perseus." Zoe's mind went into overdrive. This wasn't good. Before something logical could be thought of, Clarisse ran at the monster. Spear clashed against spear, but only for a second. The thing moved with incredible speed, burning the daughter of war in multiple places before kicking her to the side and continuing its slow walk toward Perseus.

"Throw him in the river!" Achilles spun to look at her like she was crazy. Annabeth had run over to Clarisse's side and was examining her injuries.

"He wouldn't survive," Achilles yelled back. His voice was nearly drowned out by the sound of the river.

"You mean a super powerful demigod who lived in the underworld didn't bathe in the River Styx!?" Zoe yelled desperately Achilles took a quick look at the monster's position before responding. It would be on them in fifteen seconds, fourteen seconds.

"To survive the Styx you have to have a mortal point, something that connects you to the world. Perseus has nothing in the world to look after, nothing to hold onto. His soul would be swept away in seconds."

Ten seconds.

"He will die if we don't do anything!" Zoe screamed. One of them had already died and another lay injured. They had to do something. Achilles didn't move. "Do it now or I will shove you in with him!" Apparently she looked terrifying, because Achilles turned and threw Perseus into the river. Zoe only caught part of his prayer that seemed to be to every god in existence, except Poseidon.

When Perseus's body had vanished into the river, the monster of fire froze. What would have been its head turned toward the river, then to Achilles. Without a word, the monster charged.

Percy woke up to pain. Pain that enveloped him, seeping into his flesh. He flailed, his eyes burning far worse than any pepper spray. All he could see was a glowing green, wait glowing green. He was in the underworld, right. Yes the underworld on a quest to save… the name escaped him. The pain made it hard to remember. With the next blast of pain came the answer. He was the River Styx. Why the five rivers of hell was he in one of them!? All he could remember was an ambush, and fighting some freak with a stupid mustache. The ambush! Were the others alive? How many of them were there? Four? Five? He needed to get out of here. Calling on his powers over water Perseus tried to will himself dry. Another flare of pain shot through him. He couldn't do it now. The pain had control. If it took him he would die. All he needed was a mortal point. Memory after memory flashed through his head.

His life before all this. The night his mom passed. All of the quest he had ever completed. Hours of training in the underworld. Blurred parts of the last day or so. The huntress, what was her name? Zoe? Yes that was it. Another blast of pain. Still he felt nothing. Then something smashed against his face. Fighting the river Percy forced himself to look at the silver and black object that was around his neck. His sword. The last gift from his mother in mortal form, the silver and black ace of spades being grasped by the greedy grip of the river. He had found his point.

His mother, Sally Jackson. She was forgotten by Poseidon, dumped with a child, killed by monsters. She deserved none of that. She would be avenged.

Zoe was shooting faster than she had in her whole, very long, life. The monster had rushed Achilles and the hero had let out a battle cry and met the charge head on. They fought at a speed that even Zoe had trouble following. She had moved over to where Annabeth knelt over Clarisse, intercepting the fire bolts that the monster somehow till managed to send toward them, with her arrows. If her quiver wasn't enchanted to always give her an arrow, they would have been dead a long time ago.

Achilles had fought without tiring for over fifteen minutes, far more than any other man Zoe had seen. Eventually, even the hero of heroes began to tire. The monster however showed no signs of slowing, and kept up with its ground-shaking strikes. Within another minute, Achilles had near nothing left. His strokes were weak and careless. Apparently the curse carried into death, for each time the monster struck him, Achilles did not fade, just get burned. In seconds almost halve of his exposed skin was burned to the bone. Now no longer fighting, just screaming, Achilles did nothing in retaliation when the beast put a flaming hand on his knelt form and shoved him toward the ground carelessly, as if he were a ragdoll. Zoe was now in full out panic mode. They were absolutely, one hundred percent, without a doubt, screwed.

That's when the River Styx exploded, and none other than Perseus was at the center of it. He was now shooting thorough the air like a bullet into the air, his sword triumphantly above his head. The monster now showed the very human emotion of fear.

Perseus started the fight before he even hit the ground, one of his swords dual blades being brought down vertically onto the beast. The monster barely had time to block the blade, much less the River Styx that came crashing down after it. Thrown backwards, the massive monster looked like nothing more than a coal shell. Before hopes could be raised the shell ignited and ran back toward Perseus. The demigod met the charge, and the river followed. It looked like a battle of gods. Blades would collide as the elements waged war around them. Fire bolts would leap off the ground only to be countered by the murky water of the Styx. Perseus fought just as fast as Achilles, his twin blades moving so quickly that they looked like two separate hilts. Each time one blade would connect, the monster howled, as it flailed trying to hit its smaller opponent.

Finally Perseus tipped the scales. The demigod jumped over a sweep of the monsters spear. During the split second in the air, Perseus severed the monsters right arm. The appendage, extinguished into coal, fell to the ground with a thud as the monster howled in what could be assumed was pain. Perseus carried his downward momentum and dove between the monsters legs, a piece of the Styx trailing behind him. Before the thing could recover, Perseus shot the glowing green water into the creatures, increasing its pain. Almost in a daze, the monster stumbled toward the river, its spear long forgotten. His sword now vanished from his grasp, Perseus raised both his hands toward the ceiling of the underworld, as if in some sort of trance. The Styx followed, the torrents halting and rising into a massive tidal wave. Zoe's stared in awe at the display of raw power. Perseus dropped his hands and tidal wave came crashing down. The monster never stood a chance.

By the time the water had settled into the ground, underworld security had showed up. Clarisse and Achilles were both having ambrosia shoved down their mouths as the burns around their body slowly faded. Perseus had cleaned off his sword on a black cloth he pulled from his hoodie and was now talking to one of the skeletons. His hood, which had somehow stayed on during the fight, cast his enchantment over his face, hiding it from view. When the skeleton turned and moved back to his squad, Percy approached Zoe. She and Annabeth were crouched next to Clarisse as the daughter of war was trying to sit up straight after the beating she had taken.

"We are headed to Achilles's home in Elysium, Hades will meet us there. According to the skeleton we will have a little more than an hour to rest before he arrives." None of the girls moved, they just looked at him as if he were a god. "Let's go." Slowly the girls got up and followed Perseus, who now walked next to Achilles.

"What in the Hades have we gotten ourselves into?" Annabeth muttered.

Zoe had no idea.

HOLY CRAP LOOK WHO UPDATED!. You guys are sooooooo lucky. I got the need to type this out of nowhere a few days ago and did over halve of this in the past few days. I know that even though this is the longest chapter I have ever typed (By over a thousand words I might add) it is nowhere near enough to make up for how long I have owed you guys this. We hit twenty reviews for last chapter forever ago and it's my fault that nothing has gotten posted.

That's all I really got to say. Remember twenty reviews=chapter (eventually) so leave me one so I know what you guys thought of this crazy long chapter. Thank you so much for your support.

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