The Golden Amulet (PJO, Sequel to The Silver Ring)

Chapter 12

"I'll hope you find forgiving Aurelia an easy task," the man said in an apologetic tone. "She never wanted to hurt you, but unfortunately, she gets easily angered when someone defies her control. We're still working on that."

"I've seen that," Percy confirmed, glancing quickly at Captain Aurelia, who was staring at him with an impassive expression. 

It scared him.

She was seated on a couch opposite of him in some sort of huge living space. It had chairs and couches and tables . . . but that was about it. There were no windows since they were deep underground, and judging by the number of soldiers lounging and reclining and sleeping a good distance away to give them privacy, it was open to everyone. Of course, the man might've chosen the space to have numbers on his side if Percy tried to escape—but in Percy's eyes, that wasn't very likely. 

His neck was still tender from his near-death experience—which wasn't good, considering the fact that a few soldiers had to carry him through the passageways and gently lay him on the couch he was on since any movement on his part would send slices of pain through his body. Still, every time the soldiers had taken a step his neck wasn't able to absorb the shock, which caused him to bite on his lip to not grunt.

He was basically defeated at that point. Even if he wanted to fight—he preferred not to get taken down by a sweaty soldier—standing would be quite an impressive feat in his condition, let alone defend himself when any slight movement of his neck would make him susceptible to defeat.

In short, he really didn't have a choice but to listen to the elderly man. The only thing going well for him was that he hadn't been set down next to Captain Aurelia.

"Oh, forgive my manners. My name is Elijah, and I'm this young woman's commanding officer, and on good days, her uncle." Elijah gestured towards Captain Aurelia.

"Why am I not dead yet?" Percy asked.

Elijah laughed is amusement, as though wasn't talking to a person who had been suspected of fraternizing with his presumable worst enemy—Chaos—not to mention his escaped captive. "Straight to the point, I see. If you were still our captive, you would probably be dead, yes, since you were heavily suspected of associating yourself with some Chaos soldiers," Elijah said, becoming serious. "Fortunately for you, swearing on Lady Void's name pulled you out of the water."

"That's it?" Percy asked after a slight pause. "It's just a binding oath, isn't it?"

"It's much more than just a binding oath," Elijah said with a chuckle. "Lady Void doesn't accept the oath from a mere nobody. It's meant for her champion—the person she cherishes the most. Many have tried, but failed, immediately burning to ash."

Percy swallowed hard as his face did its best to turn into the color of a cherry, squirming uncomfortably, jostling the pillows that kept his neck supported when Elijah and Captain Aurelia started studying him curiously. Obviously, he knew that he would be important to Void, since he was married to a part of her—but it stirred up feelings he tried to contain with the goal of freeing Omega.

This obviously wasn't going to be a clean mission, given that even before he had gathered his bearings on the new planet, he had been captured, by the Army of Void, of all things. Void now knew where he was—heck, she probably knew his location when he first stepped on her planet. He had learned that Void was in the process of reforming—and holding someone to an oath meant she was very close to waking up again, since reforming was no easy thing, and it took most of the being's strength. Add on that Percy's luck basically forces everything to go wrong . . .

There was a high chance he would face Void to free Omega.

And this time, he wasn't sure if he could fight against Void.

When he had faced Void the first time, seeing her turn into dust almost broke his heart, if not for Artemis, even though she had just recently confessed her feelings towards him. But now, he loved Artemis so much that just the thought of anything happening to her sent his heart lurching. 

The familiar feeling in his gut told him all he needed to know.

He wouldn't be able to lift a finger, let alone a sword up to Void without him crashing down to his knees.

***

What have I gotten myself into, Percy wondered as he looked around his "room." 

Firstly, to get to the room, he had to descend dozens of flights of stairs, and traverse through hallways reinforced with Void gold walls and doors and patrols of heavily armed guards, as though he was entering a vault. He could imagine very clearly the irritating smirk on Captain Aurelia's face as she told him he'd be staying here for the next couple of days and as she closed the door, essentially trapping Percy in the room. 

Instead of days, Percy got the sense it would stretch on to be a couple of months.

Captain Aurelia's smirk suddenly made sense as he had looked around the quarters. 

It was a . . . box. A cramped box, at that. the godly-metal walls seemed to come closer every moment. No windows, and the only door could only be opened from the outside. The only light came from a couple of sputtering torches on the walls, as though they would be extinguished in the near future or if someone even breathed a little too strongly. There was a small mattress on the ground, and just by looking at its appearance Percy could guess it was stuffed with hay. And the bathroom . . .

There was no bathroom. Only a small bucket next to the cot.

That was what set Percy over the edge. He was fine with living in some sort of prison with measly amounts of light and sleeping on the floor—but he wasn't going to pee in a bucket. Percy's resolve grew.

He was done getting special treatment as Void's "champion." He would try his hardest to escape.

Not just by himself, but with his whole team.