The Curse of Chaos

Rising tensions

Once Percy finished explaining, he called out to Chaos in his mind, a portal promptly appearing in front of him. He mentally thanked Chaos, sending a quick prayer to the Creator before motioning for the others to walk through.

Bianca's eyes lit up with glee as she eagerly went first, pausing slightly to marvel at the portal before stepping through. Ethan shrugged and went next.

Silena walked up to the portal, holding Beckendorf's hand tightly. "Together?" She asked tentatively. He looked back at her, smiling with an expression that could only be described as whipped. "Always."

Percy smiled inwardly at the two, silently praying to Ananke to never let Fate tear them apart. Michael looked suspiciously at the portal. "How safe is that thing? It looks... unstable."

Percy laughed. Ooh, he's smart.

"It's completely safe. Most of the time, anyways."

Michael sighed, resigned to his fate and walked through.

That left Percy and Luke. Alone.

Luke barely acknowledged Percy as he walked through, leaving Percy alone. Percy sighed, running hand through his hair. Chaos help me.

———

120 years later, Planet Xîa.

Percy groaned, wincing in pain as the shackles almost ripped his wrists from the rest of his body. He didn't even understand how he'd been kidnapped. One minute he was walking around the city, the next he was pulled into the alleyway and taken to this thing.

It was a moving dungeon sort of thing. His cell was a sphere, constantly rolling through seemingly random portals and towns. But Percy wasn't stupid. He knew that whoever was behind this knew exactly what they were doing. The cell cut off all connections he had with Chaos. It was ancient magic, far older than Percy. He didn't even have a sense of time. And, even if he somehow managed to escape the prison, he wouldn't be able to walk straight for at least an hour. The constant spinning of the sphere had left him painfully bruised everywhere and absolutely disoriented. It was like those bubble things on water that you would see at a fair, except more unpleasant.

His ADHD had been running wild ever since he had been left alone in the sphere. It was just that - a sphere. Thankfully, a blue one, but it was just void of anything aside from Percy and the shackles that emerged from one of the sides and clasped around his hands like a vice. No bed, no bathroom, no water, no food. Percy was an immortal, so it wasn't as if he needed any of those, but it would be nice.

His thoughts came whirling to a stop as the sphere jerked violently before plunging down into a sort of lake. Percy could feel the presence of a liquid, and he pulled at it, feel the tug in his gut as he pulled the water - not water, the liquid - towards him.

The prison crashed in on itself, sending the weird blue rock scattering everywhere. The pressure pushed Percy back, straight into the liquid. The liquid itself was a poison, searing through Percy's lungs and blinding him. Fuck, he couldn't even breathe. He pushed aside those unneeded thoughts and propelled himself to the surface of the water, using the momentum to take him to shore.

Luckily for him, the planet had air, even if it was purple-ish. He opened his eyes the tiniest bit, doubling over to the ground and groaning in pain. Everything hurt. His skin was smoking and his clothes were almost non-existent. The ground was a sandy blonde, reminding him of a person who he hadn't talked to for about a century.

Delirious, Percy reached out to him. He called out the name, and couldn't help but feel that it sounded so right on his tongue.

Luke