🦅 Carter Kane & Percy Jackson 🌊

Percy Jackson|The Red Pyramid and an Old Friend

Carter and I ran as fast as our legs would allow. The pyramid in front of us sort of blended with the landscape, and when I say blended, I mean almost shifting.
     It was red alright. The sides shifted in and out of sight, like someone was deciding whether to put an invisibility cloak on it or not. Red sand swirled around it, blurring it even more.
     "What are we gonna do when we get in there?" I asked, stopping beside Carter.
     "We gotta find Sadie and Annabeth," he panted, "So we'll search first, and, hopefully not, fight later."
     I nodded. How we were supposed to get into the pyramid, I had no idea, so I left that part to Carter.
He pressed a block on the dusty pyramid, and a door slid open. It led into a dark tunnel, barley lit by red torches along the room.
"I'm not gonna lie," Carter muttered as we walked into the tunnel, "I'm scared."
"You and me both," I said, my hand tight around Riptide. The floors were exactly as my dream had been; speckled with blood-like drops and an obsidian black.
Carter motioned for me to stop, "Okay, we've gotta have a better plan than this."
I was about to reply, when a rumbling sound erupted behind us. I yanked out Riptide and whipped around. A wall had dropped behind us, and now was grinding towards our position.
"Traps? Are you kidding me?!" I yelled. I clicked Riptide and threw it into my pocket as Carter and I ran.
     We threw ourselves out of the tunnel just as the wall came to a screeching halt. I panted and wiped the sweat out of my eyes, "I should've seen that coming."
"Welcome, Perseus Jackson." the voice exactly from my dreams vibrated through the room we were standing in. It was exactly like what I had seen; a high ceiling with hieroglyphs painted all across it, the floor painted in black and red, and even statues of guys with weird animal heads.
"Who's there?" Carter shouted, pulling out his sword, (I still thought it looked like a tied up pretzel, but oh well.)
"Carter Kane," the voice grumbled, "It is good to see you again."
We exchanged glances, "Alright," I roared, "Where's the others?"
A blinding flash appeared in front of us, fading into two figures. One, had red robes and skin, his hand clutching a staff made of gold and fire. The other man- Kronos. Like the pyramid, Kronos looked exactly like my dream had shown me. His demonic claws were clenched at his sides, and his copper armor glowed blood red in the light of the torches above.
"Set," Carter whispered to me, "And another guy."
"Kronos," I muttered back, "This is really bad."
***
     "Child of Poseidon," Kronos laughed, "Do you miss someone?"
     My blood pressure doubled, "Where is she? What did you do with her?"
     "Well," he said smiling, "Let's have a look, shall we?"
     The ground suddenly jerked out from under my feet and I was falling. I could hear Carter calling my name, but I couldn't worry about it at the moment. I hurriedly threw Riptide back into my pocket, just as I slammed into flagged stone.
"Annabeth Chase," Kronos' voice rumbled, "Trapped in the Egyptian prison, the Duat, how does it feel? To know that your loved one is dying beyond your reach?"
     I shot to my feet, "Let her go, Kronos! Get down here and fight me!" Riptide reappeared in my hand. My eyes trailed around my surroundings; just flagged stone as far as I could see. Everything was gray, except for one figure.
     "Annabeth?" I called.
"Percy," her voice called, "You failed us. My body is gone in that prison, and Kronos has taken over the Camp."
     I couldn't believe my ears, "What? No! It can't be true." My sword dipped lower and I stared ahead at Annabeth's shadow. I had an overwhelming sense of dread and hopelessness.
"Your mother is dead," she said, her voice blank and as hard as iron, "Everything we once knew and loved is gone. You are a poor excuse for a hero, Percy."
     My heart felt crushed, "No, no this can't be happening- I- "
     Just then, another figure appeared, "Percy, why didn't you save us?" Her voice was a complete replica of my mother's. Her shadow moved closer, "Why did you let us fall? Why have you not saved our world?"
     I squeezed my eyes shut and felt myself falter, "You're- you can't be real. You're not real. You are NOT REAL!"
     The shadows vanished, whispering and crying. A more solid figure stood in front of me, "You lose, Percy Jackson."
     A felt a hard slash on my arm and I was flung backwards onto more flagstone. I groaned and looked down at me arm; it had a large gash and was dripping blood onto the stones. I forced myself not to look and yanked myself to my feet, "You won't win that easily."
     Kronos chuckled, "Who says I will win now?" Another swipe of metal, and I was thrown a good few feet, landing on my back.
     I grunted in pain and grabbed Riptide, "You won't win, now or never."
     Kronos threw another blow with his sword that I was able to deflect. He snarled, "You have messed with the Titans one too many times, Percy Jackson."
     He raked his talons across my chest and I flew backwards onto more stones. I was getting beat, bad. How was I supposed to win something that I couldn't even think to challenge?
     I used Riptide to help me back up, blood now gushing from my chest. My lip was dripping with blood, and I was pretty sure that all the bones in my body were snapped.
     Kronos' voice was farther away, "Pitiful, son of Poseidon. I thought you would put up more of a fight."
     "I'm just warming up," I panted, throwing myself forward and somehow slicing through a piece of Kronos' armor.
     He roared with rage and flashed forward, his hand on my neck. I dropped my sword, unable to fight. He lifted me off the ground and growled, "You lose this battle, boy."
     My vision blurred, and everything around me blacked out. My memory on high drive. I saw my mom, putting down a plate of blue pancakes in front of me, I saw my dad standing in a Hawaiian shirt in my kitchen, I saw Annabeth fighting off demons and looking incredibly hot. Her images faded, and I felt a rising sense of strength.
     My eyes came back into focus and Kronos' yelled in rage, "No!"
     Everything around us tumbled and we were standing in the middle of the pyramid again. Carter was no where to be seen, neither was Set, and I didn't want to believe that Carter was gone. That only fueled my anger.
     I summoned Riptide to my hand and sliced downwards, slicing off the hand of my enemy.
     Kronos roared in pain and edged away from me, his stub of a hand pouring golden blood. He raises his sword hand and brought it down, just as I ran out of his way, throwing my sword right between his shoulder blades.
     Kronos dropped down to his hands and knees, gasping for air. What was strange, his body flickered, like he wasn't all . . . there.
     I grabbed my sword and brought it down just above Kronos' head, "This- is for capturing Annabeth."
     I swung the sword down, and Kronos vanished from existence.