The Journey Through Tartarus

The Darkness Overcomes

Chapter 8: The Darkness Overcomes

Percy's Pov:

As I stood there paralyzed by the death mist, Akhlys put her hands on either side of my head. When she took her hands away, I began to see visions, the lasted only an instant but what I saw broke me.

I couldn't move, I was stuck fast in the corner of a cabin on the Argo II, it was definitely the Jason's room, and the sight before was horrendous, Annabeth my girlfriend, the one who id given up everything, the one who id fallen into this retched pit for, having sex with one of my closest friends. Jason and Annabeth's lips were locked, and they were both panting heavily, sweat pouring down their faces and chests.

Annabeth moaned Jason's name and I saw red, the only thing I could do was watch on in horror, I could literally feel my heart clench in pain. Every single one of my molecules seemed to burn.

Akhlys was forcing me to watch the whole thing, Akhlys, she had to have manufactured this vision, there's no way Annabeth would ever do that to me. as fast as it started it ended, I was back in Tartarus, Akhlys was standing in front of me with a smug expression.

Everything I saw was tinted a bloody hue, and that smile she had on her face only fueled the burning fire in my gut, with reckless abandon I leapt forward and punched the goddess in the face, she flew back a few feet before landing in a crumpled heap. For a minute I though I would be okay, then she got back up and her nails grew into talon. She snarled at me.

"What's wrong demigod, can't stand the fact that your girlfriend is with another man, as you fight for your life." That was it, I unsheathed my new Drakon bone swords and charged at her, I swung and slashed, dodged, and weaved. But it was futile, I was fighting a goddess bord of the eldest ones, Chaos and Nyx.

Suddenly all around her poisonous plants began to sprout around us, Neon Liquids began to leak out of then sizzling on the ground.

"You will experience the death of a thousand poisons, your body will be burned away by my acid." Somehow, I had ended up with my back against the infinite drop off, but the poison just kept coming, forcing me back step by step. A lake of toxins rushed towards me, the fumes burned my nostrils making me light headed. But I could not back up any further the poisonous ichor had surrounded me, and I was stuck on an island no bigger than a shield. I fell to one knee wishing there was a pool of plain old normal water I could jump in and heal himself, or a river he could manipulate to defend himself.

"I will feed on your misery mortal; you will die in the arms of night!" Akhlys said. The white-green poison kept pooling, little streams trickling from the plants as the venomous lake around me got wider and wider.

Lake, he thought. Streams. Water.

It was probably just his brain getting fried from poison fumes, but I managed to croak out a laugh. Poison was liquid. If it moved like water, it must be partially water. He remembered some science lecture about the human body being mostly water. He remembered extracting water from Jason's lungs back in Rome... If he could control that, then why not other liquids?

It was a crazy idea. Poseidon was the god of the sea, not of every liquid everywhere.

Then again, Tartarus had its own rules. Fire was drinkable. The ground was the body of a dark god. The air was acid, and demigods could be turned into smoky corpses.

I focused on the vast sea of vivid yellow, purple, green and pinks, and forced them back, this was different from when I fell into the Cocytus, because this time I would not, could not accept no for an answer. Slowly but surely the advancing tide reversed, metaphorically and physically. For the first time fear flashed in goddess of poison's eyes as her own domain closed in on her. As he focused on all the poison, another source of liquid appeared on my radar.