𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋

꧁𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐘 𝐜𝐡𝟒𝟔꧂

Percy

Running. The funny thing was I've always liked running. It made me feel strong, travelling fast against the wind. I used to run across the beach, and I liked challenging the Stoll brothers to a foot race. But this was different. This had become a fight or flight situation, and I'd be delusional to fight a crowd like that. So as I ran, I closed my eyes for a fraction of a second, that felt like it lasted a whole lot longer.

The monsters were getting too close now.

I could feel the body of the river beside me. It didn't flow gently and calmly, but didn't move in great waves like the sea I knew. It was rapids, moving hard and fast. The Styx water smashed against rocks, its current and relentlessness unstoppable. The river gave me new-found strength. Okay, so what if the underworld rivers weren't supposed to be my domain? Water is water; it flows by current, it heals me. In this moment, the river was the sea to my glass-chipped beach.

I took a risky glance back. Lady Styx stood, arms splayed, as a sudden wave of black water roared up to form a wall. Many monsters vaporised on instant, hitting the wall of shuddering water. For a short moment, I celebrated silently, resisting the urge to turn around and do a fortnite dance, but my satisfaction was short lived. The army slowed to a stop, and the winged monsters took off. They shot from the ground at alarming speeds, and managed to get over the black wall before Lady Styx could blink.

Other wingless monsters began a different approach. The bigger ones picked up the ones at the bottom of the pecking order, and began to throw them at the wall. The water would be splashed to the side, and while the veil between us was temporarily down, they'd jump through. I recognised Arachne as one of these culprits, as well as Geryon and the Chimera.

I tore my eyes away and tried to block out the sound of the cries of bloody murder from behind. I looked to my right, to Annabeth. Her perfect face was pale, slick with sweat. Her eyes were locked forwards, grey glistening with stormy determination. It would be fine. Annabeth always has a plan. Annabeth always knows what to do. It would be fine. Right?

I had never been so grateful for my fitness. How long had we been sprinting at our absolute maximum now? Time in Tartarus was a twisted thing. It was around three minutes. Maybe four. Five? Six?

I took another look back. Lady Styx was now wearing  black greek armour, twin scimitars in her hands. She was cutting down monster after monster. She was fast, and sent out ripples of deadly water (like bullets) out of the river at anything that got too close. Whenever she began to be overwhelmed, she rose souls with broken oaths from the ground, and ordered them to fight.

I shouldn't have been looking behind though, they were still a few hundred meters behind. The current threat was above.

I cried out in pain. Something razor sharp sank into my left shoulder. With another cry, I pulled it out with my right arm, seeing it as a bird feather. A deadly sharp silver bird feather. I knew where it must have come from, before I even looked up. Stymphalian birds.

"Percy! Are you o-" Annabeth began, but she yelped. I immediately turned to see her bloody arm, which had another bird feather imbedded in it. She tore it out and threw it at another bird diving for us. "Stupid birds!" she hissed, as if she couldn't believe their audacity. Under different circumstances, I would've laughed at her tone, but I didn't think she'd find that very funny. Not while being chased by killer birds - oh, and an entire army - anyway.

I whistled and yelled 'Maia! Cover us!' hoping that the brainless shoes would understand. Fortunately, they did. The red converse slowed so it was hovering the backpack just above our heads as we ran. I smirked, as the birds began to dive bomb the bag. There was no way they were getting through that 60L backpack. As in, Leo made it. Nothings beating an invention of that kid, I'll give him a lot of credit.

"Perce, good try, but-" Annabeth wheezed. But the birds spoke for her. Instead of dive bombing, they began to chase right behind us. I cursed. I then cursed again when another bird clawed at my back. And again when one tried to bite my arm.

There was so many of them now. Pecking, scratching, biting. I felt like I was being eaten alive, and it was not fun. I was starting to feel bad for my hamburgers.

"Percy! I can OW- see a structure, we just - AH! - have to - OW- get there for -UGH - cover!" Annabeth yelled. I squinted, and sure enough, there was a greek style type of temple up ahead. Though it was still about double the distance away than the army was to us.

But we weren't going to make it. I knew it. She knew it. At this rate, we'd bleed out before we got there, at the rate of these birds.

"Screw this," I muttered, slowing to a stop.
"What are you doing?!" Annabeth screamed, whirling. She slashed at a bird coming her way with her drakon bone sword, and another when it went to take a piece out of her face.

"I'm done running." I said.
"But they're catching up!" I turned, and she was right. The monster's army was after us now, Styx was nowhere in sight.
"We need to deal with these birds before we're eaten alive!" I shouted, while slashing at another one with riptide.

Wait. What was I saying before? I'm such an idiot. The river was right next to us.
"Annabeth, run."
"What!?"
"I'm just hoping that lady Styx won't mind," I said. She understood, and began to jog, looking back all the time.

I began to grab hold of the Styx water, a tugging in my gut. It was a sort of sludge, but still not too difficult to control. I raised it like a hurricane behind me. In one big movement, I threw it at the birds.

Some vaporised on instant, others dodged. I brought my sword up to instantly deflect the one that came at me first, but I was fortunate to see that over half of them had turned to dust.

Annabeth ran back, and tackled me to the ground, just as a caucasian eagle had gone for the place my head just was. "Thanks," I breathed.
"No prob," she replied, while slashing at another bird. She rolled off of me, before launching herself to her feet, deflecting three more blows from the birds. Gods, I love that girl.

"Plan, Einstein?" I shouted, also getting to my feet.
"I'm working on it!" she replied. I wanted to use the water again, but hitting Annabeth was too risky. I looked around for other options.

The shoes (carrying the backpack) were getting some action. They slung the bag around, with horrific accuracy, occasionally hitting a bird. They were about a 3/10 for usefulness, but, hey, they're shoes, gotta give them some credit.

Styx had reappeared, closer to us. She was holding off the army again, but her movements were slower, she looked desperate. Not a good sign.

"Wait! Percy!" Annabeth said. I slashed at another bird, but the eagle pushed me to the waters edge.
"Yeah!?" I yelled back, rolling out the way of another strike.
"Blast them back! Then run! I think it's the shrine! Hermes shrine! They can't follow us, it's Hermes blessing."
"Got-" I was gonna say 'got it'. But it was too late. An eagle rammed into me, and I flipped backwards.

And landed straight in the twisted waters of the river Styx.