A Moment of Stars | PJO Chaos

Twenty-Three

The room was white, and Percy couldn't speak.

It takes a few seconds of confusion to realize he was dreaming,

Obsidian vines curl around pristine pillars like poisoned veins in a dying body. The air is completely still, as if desperately holding its breath in hopes of not being noticed by the man that looks out at the blank landscapes speckled with black trees.

The man looks similar to Chaos -- mirrored stance, same nose, and an identical expression that makes Percy shiver in realization.

He was staring at End: the embodiment of destruction. The plague that lived within his dreams, the root of the universe's problems. The entity leans against the balcony over looking the world that Percy assumes he created(or destroyed).

"Sir!" Another man runs into the frame. He is far smaller than End's towering frame, and much less threatening. "There was a power surge on Aevum, we believe--"

"I already know."

The silence that follows makes Percy's entire body tense. The man trembles like a dying leaf behind End. "The son, he will know everything soon. We cannot stop it." His voice squeaks.

"I gave you a job." Ends sighs in fake sympathy. "Yet here we are, in the ashes of your mistakes, are we not?"

"Sir please, I--"The man screams as his body deteriorates into pure white sand. The pile fades away as if it had never been there. The entity faded the man without even looking at him.

End straightens and walks across the white room to a mass of void. It take a moment for Percy to figure out that it is a throne. It was so dark it looked like a cutout within the whitened world. The throne'a aura diminishes with darkness as End lays a hand on it. It's was almost as if it were recoiling from the entitiy's touch. He grins at that, relishing at the fear that seems to emit from the object.

End's eyes then land directly on Percy. Chills shoot down his spine as he realizes the entity can see him perfectly. He can't move or look away, and can only watch as a pressure in his chest builds.

"Well then," End smirks, as if he knew something that Percy did not."It was time for a change of plans anyway. Isn't it, nephew?"

The scene flickers black before he hears a voice that he thought he would never hear again.

"Perseus."

Mom?  Percy calls in slight panic. Is that you? Where are you?

"Find me, son. We will speak once the past and present become one."

•••

His eyes fly open once he wakes. Blinding lights blur his vision as he tries to adjust to being conscious to the real world.

The first thing that hits him is the smell.

Chocolate and licorice. Baked cookies and ink.

Home.

Images of his mother flash under his eyes every time he blinked. Comfort warmed his very being as he shifts in probably the softest sheets he's ever laid in. His body felt heavy, as if weighed down by a tungsten blanket. He simply felt safe—something he hadn't truly experienced in years. Right when he begins to drift off, memories of before he dreamt flood his mind.

In an instant, Percy sits up.

Or, at least he tries to.

Sparking sensations shoot through his spine, making him fall back onto his stomach in surprise. It takes him a moment to realize that the reason his body feels far too heavy to be normal is that there is a weight on top of him. He turns his head around to find something he wasn't expecting.