My story | PJO x male reader

Chapter 1: Falling

The bird shall descend into darkness. "Descend" was a gentle word.

I catapulted through the air so fast, that the cavern walls blended together. My head hurt from the constant spinning and hurtling, but the strength to stop it had left me. The air had become damper and hotter like I was a chicken being cooked. Wind had wailed at my ears in waves.

When I was this way, the sound soared.

When I was this way, the sound ceased.

When I was this way, the daggers nicked my hand.

When I was this way, my consciousness almost fleeted.

But no matter what happened, I stayed awake. Annabeth had told me about the horrible fates of demigods—I had even read about a few of them: Heracles—poison, Achilles—arrow, Jason—falling ship.

Was I really ready for my name to be etched on that list? Just another tally mark? Just another folk song? Just another tale to scare kids from sinkholes?

At first, the answer was No, but the longer I fell—as minutes took to hours, I had slowly went from defiance to acceptance. Now, the question that replaced it was, "Why?" Why was this happening to me? Of all people? Why couldn't Percy fall down here? Why couldn't Grover fall down here? Why couldn't Luke fall down here?

And why did these shoes bring me down here?

They had kept flapping sporadically and crazed. I had tried cutting them multiple times, but I always ended up cutting my legs, or cutting my ankle. I then tried recalling them to my necklace, but my voice was broken from screaming for the first few minutes.

So, then that left me here.

Uncomfortable.

Lonely.

Silence.

Have you ever wondered what death would feel like? Would it be instant? Would it be a long drawn out pain? I guess it depends on the method, right? Well, falling would be pretty instant. I have a feeling the fear of it would be more painful than death would.

I heard Elysium only allowed soldiers with heroic deaths. Did this count? Falling to your death? I could play it up to the judges that sort the Underworld.

"I fell for the benefit of everyone else involved! One less for Hades to kill—" okay, actually that wouldn't work.

I could ask for Thanatos to just take me there. I bet he's nice...hopefully. He could just fly me there, couldn't he? They call him the angel of death, so...he has wings, right?

Eh, I'll find out soon.

And soon, came faster than I expected.

The chute I had been traveling through, expanded into a giant cavern. I could see the ground about a mile beneath me.

"Woah!" My broken voice croaked. The Grand Canyon could've fit in just the area that I saw. Red clouds hung in the air like blood clots. Black, rocky plains expanded toward the horizons, lightly interrupted by chasms and cliffs. To my left, I saw a bunch of colossal steps that seemed to drift off into an abyss. To my right, I saw a mountain that almost reached the roof.

And right below me, glittering black liquid. I remembered someone telling me that falling into water could be the same as landing on concrete.

For once in my life, I hoped they were right.

The air's whistling became louder and louder. My breathing hastened as the liquid became closer.

I curled my body close together in a cannonball and waited. When I could see the movement of the water I closed my eyes.

It was so close...so tantalizingly close.

Then it hit.

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AN: Guess who's back?