The Assassin in the Shadows; Book One: The Betrayed Heroes

Chapter 5 (Part - I) - What happened in Tartarus, should stay in Tartarus

Previously,

"Goodbye, the people I called my family. You all will learn of the truth very soon. And when you do, you will never find me. And I swear this on your name mother, I will never shed a drop of blood in your name again."

Artemis POV

Mount Olympus

When I looked at all the other gods they all were looking at me, many of them had raised their eyebrow and were looking at me. Hestia then cleared her throat. I looked at her thankfully and she spoke, "It seems as if you three don't remember what happened. I think we should see what happened shouldn't we?"

I only remember pieces of it. Were these figments of imagination or my memories. Iris was called and then it started. It showed us how Percy was cheated on by Annabeth, how the campers had betrayed Percy, how Poseidon had disowned him, how I had tried to kill him and how Zeus had banished him on Tartarus.

I could see Athena crying in a corner. Why was she crying over Percy, a son of Poseidon? That was the biggest question racing through my mind.

Truth be told, I felt sad too. I had betrayed Percy, the most loyal demigod ever. Ever since he took the sky from me I have been keeping an eye on him.

I do not like having to be in someone's debt, more importantly the debt of saving my life.

The memory started, and I regretted what I had done immediately. It was gruesome to say at the least.

The way that the son of Zeus manipulated everyone, how the campers, all of them tortured him. It showed how the Athena spawn cheated on him and how he threw the ring in the fire.

Then he started walking back to his cabin. Right at the moment Poseidon flashed in. We saw them both arguing about something. Poseidon then disowned Perseus.

Then came the part I would regret for the next few months of my life. I broke open the door of the Poseidon cabin and stormed in. I then cornered him and slapped him, punched him, kicked him and he did nothing. He didn't even try to stop me.

I then flashed away, not even warning him to close his eyes. And then like someone possessing him he muttered something underneath his breath. Then Athena flashed in. She took him to Apollo's palace. Then it showed Zeus banishing him to Tartarus.

Percy POV

Tartarus

I opened my eyes to find myself in the same barren hellish landscape with black mountains, an ominous red colored light starting from the never ending roof of the cavern, with the rivers in the distance.

Last time I was down here was with her.

As I got up, a sharp pain shot through my left arm. When I looked down I saw my veins turning black and my hand was turning blacker by the minute.

I walked around, leaning on a stick I found. I discovered a cave, and I decided to explore it. As I walked around a quarter of a mile into the cave I heard two people talking. Taking out riptide, I readied myself to fight whoever was in that cave. I got close enough to hear what they were saying.

"But master, wouldn't it change?" A voice which sounded too familiar asked the other guy. "No my apprentice, it wouldn't. I must take my leave now. And I might not be seeing you anytime soon." The other guy told the first guy. "Yes master, if anything happens to him I will call you." The first guy responded. "And Kronos, our guest, Perseus, is here. Close your eyes."

Kronos! I have to run as fast as I can. But on second thought dying sounds like a better option right now. I want my misery to end. I want this to stop. I want to wake up from this nightmare.

"Hello young Perseus, stop hiding. I swear on the Styx that I or any of the other titans will not hurt you ever again. Now, as I was saying come out. Please."

I hadn't heard a titan ever say the magic word to the one who was the main cause of their demise. So, I did the first thing that came to my mind, I walked out.

Kronos studied me with his eyes as if I was some troublemaking teenager and he was that one old teacher with his glasses on studying my posture and dressing.

He was tall, around 6'1". He had a black leather jacket, golden eyes and black hair.

He had his scythe in his hand that asserted this aura of power and dominance. He had this sad look in his eyes that told me that he was guilty and he had this weight on his chest and had no one to share it with.

I felt sorry for him. I felt pity for the man who tried destroying my home, for the man who wanted to use me to kill his own children.

When I looked into his eyes, I saw he felt sad and guilty for his deeds. He didn't want to hurt his children, it was like something or someone was forcing him.

"I honestly don't know what to say Kronos, how are you living such a good life down here? Are we even in Tartarus? So how's life treating you?" I suddenly felt some irritation in my throat, I tried to ignore but suddenly I coughed, hard.

After coughing out a lot, I looked at my hands that covered my mouth. Blood. I finally noticed Kronos's hand on my back. He was helping me, when he could have struck me down.

"Oh my Primordials, Perseus, you're condition is more serious than I thought." Kronos told me.

"Umm no to be rude lord, but can you tell me what condition do I have?" I asked him.

"You're dying Perseus, and nobody except 2 people can help you, and one of them is evil, very evil." He told me. "Your fatal flaw, Loyalty, is the most rarest and the most dangerous of the fatal flaws. The primordial of loyalties is the only one who on our side can help you, and he has a way to help you survive. If we don't find him by a few days, your blood will turn dark, your heart will seize to exist and you will only be a shell, a body without a mind, no heart, no emotions, no intelligence. You should rest now" Kronos told me, pointing at a bed.

"How do I know, that you won't call some dirty monster or something like that to stab me in my sleep." I told him.

"I swear on the Styx that no one shall lay a scratch on you while you rest." Kronos told me.

___________________________________

3 days later

When I woke up in the morning, Kronos was cooking food. My right hand had also started going black.

I walked up to Kronos and sat to a log next to him. He gave me a bowl of freshly cooked soup. I drank it all up and when I was nearly finished, we heard a growl behind us.

We turned back and saw some black wolf like creature with blood red eyes and suddenly there were hundreds of them.

"No, this can't be happening. How are they out? Has he joined their side?" Kronos said to no one in shock.

He looked at me and a mutual understanding passed between us, with newfound respect for each other we nodded to each other and got ready to attack. Kronos with his Scythe and me with riptide.

When they lunged at us, we started massacring them, but in a few moments we were overwhelmed, I mean who wouldn't be. These beasts were huge, like 12 feet huge and I stood at a measly height of 6'2" in front of them.

They were pretty strong and their hide was like iron, but even that can't stop us. But thing that stopped us were there numbers. They were multiplying quickly.

Suddenly, at the back of my eyes I saw a beast lunge at Kronos's blind spot. Forgetting about what he did I was nearly able to stop the beast.

But I had jumped too quickly. The beast passed above me as I landed on the ground with a loud thud, and I felt my ribs break. I was losing my vision.

The last thing I saw was a man teleport in front of the beast. The way he showed up was something out of books. At first it looked like a hole in space-time, but then the hole exploded, letting out a ton of energy. Half of the horde got decimated like that, but that was the last thing I saw before passing out.

And then I had a dream.