▃▃▃ ᴅᴏɴᴛ ʟᴇᴛ ʜᴇʀ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ᴏꜰ ɪɴɴᴏᴄᴇɴᴄᴇ ꜰᴏᴏʟ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱʜᴇ ɪꜱ ꜰᴜʟʟ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇꜱᴛ ᴋɪɴᴅ ᴏꜰ ʙᴀᴅ-ᴊ ɪʀᴏɴ ᴡᴏʀᴅ
▃▃ ʙᴏᴏᴋ 1 ▃▃ In which the only daughter of Persephone sneaks on a quest to see the world for the first time since she's been at camp. The daughter of wisdom...
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𖥔 ݁ ˖ ⭑ ‧₊˚ ⋅ જ⁀➴๋࣭ ⭑๋࣭ ⭑
Not long after rejoining the group, Elara realized with dread that Kampê hadn't died—only grown angrier.
They finally stopped in a chamber carved of slick black stone, where the air echoed with the deafening roar of falling water. The floor was nothing but a massive pit, surrounded by a narrow, wet ledge. Every wall had huge pipes spilling waterfalls straight into the abyss.
When Elara shined her flashlight over the edge, the light disappeared. She couldn't see the bottom. Couldn't even guess how far down it went.
Briares sat slumped against the wall, water streaming down his shoulders as he used a dozen hands to scoop handfuls and splash his face. He looked less like a hundred-handed giant and more like a man who'd aged a thousand years in one battle.
"This pit goes straight to Tartarus," he murmured, "I should jump in and save you trouble."
"Don't talk that way." Annabeth told him. "You can come back to camp with us. You can help us prepare. You know more about fighting Titans than anybody."
"I have nothing to offer," Briares said, "I have lost everything."
Tyson stepped forward, his voice thick with hope.
"What about your brothers?" Tyson asked. "The other two must stand tall as mountains. We can take you to them."
Briares's face shifted. It collapsed into grief, and Elara's heart sank.
"They are no more. They faded."
The waterfalls pounded louder. Tyson stared into the pit and blinked rapidly, like he could force the tears back into his eye. Elara could barely hear over the crashing water, but she didn't need to. She could feel the weight in the room.
"What exactly do you mean, they faded?" Percy asked. "I thought monsters were immortal, like the gods."
"Percy," Grover said weakly, "even immortality has limits. Sometimes...sometimes monsters get forgotten and they lose their will to stay immortal."
Elara turned toward Grover slowly.
She wondered if he was thinking of Pan—of the silence left behind when gods disappeared. Her mind flashed back to Medusa, the way she'd spoken of her sisters fading, leaving her alone and bitter. And then Apollo, casually dropping that Helios was gone now, and he had to carry the sun.
At the time, Elara hadn't really thought about what that meant.
But looking at Briares now... ancient and broken... she did.
