Perseus the Conqueror

Chapter 4

Percy POV

After my chat with Chaos, it was time to get on the move again. Before he shimmered out of view, Chaos had pointed me to the shore of the River Phlethagon, which apparently I needed to drink from. Yay me.

I took off at a jog; I didn't feel like wasting time. I headed through the plains of knives, again careful to avoid the latter. The way I was going, I eventually spied an orange glow over the horizon. I assumed that that would be the river of fire.

As I looked up I saw that what I had been thinking was a cloudy red sky, was actually a red cavern ceiling, thousands of feet up into the air. It seemed to only be lit by the orange glow over the horizon, which I doubted was a sunrise. I also noticed that the ceiling seemed to be riddled with holes like the one Annabeth and I fell out of. I shuddered at the thought of more holes like in Arachne's lair.

As I approached the glow, I noticed something else: I wasn't tired at all from the running. I had been running for around 30 minutes, and I hadn't broken a sweat. I was seriously confused when something else confused me more.

"It's the hellhound power you dummy!" Said a voice inside my head.

"What the-! Chaos tell me that's you and not some other weirdo in my mind." I asked, seriously worried.

"Of course it's me Percy!" I sighed in relief "I am still able to talk to you telepathically, and unless you want to spend a century in Tartarus with no one to talk to, then you will deal with it."

I decided to get over it.

I thought about what he said. Being the idiot that I am, I forgot to try any of my new powers. Because derp.

What were my new abilities? I know one is hellhound endurance. I looked at my now godlike physique and remembered enhanced strength. What else? Oh right: super senses and shadow travel. I didn't want to focus on shadow travel until I was out of Tartarus I didn't know how that would work.

I decided to try out super senses, I focused on my smell, and my nose cringed, as suddenly I could smell all of Tartarus. I decided to stop with the senses for now.

I remember there being one more. What was it? And then it came to me.

"Chaos!"

"Yo what up homie!"

Ignoring his weird antics, I continued, "How do I turn into a Hellhound?"

He seemed to chuckle in my head, which was a weird feeling, "I am surprised it took you this long to ask! Just concentrate on the image of a hellhound in your mind, and it should do the trick!"

I concentrated, holding a picture of a hellhound in my head. At first nothing happened. I looked around unimpressed "Well that's just—Gah!"

I was cut off by the fact that I was now sprouting black fur all over my body. I felt my muscles stretching and twisting. My bones grew and rearranged themselves. I had to fall on all fours to avoid falling on my face. I felt my ears shift up on my head, and a tail sprouted over my backside. Overall: not the best feeling.

The real fun began however, when I began to increase in size. I kept growing taller and taller until I was twice the size of Mrs. O'Leary.

When all was said and done, I was about 15 feet tall on all fours. I was a gigantic black Labrador.

I'll be honest; it felt really good to be a hellhound. I felt so much stronger in this form than in my regular one. I tried moving forward, and was surprised to find it easy. It was just like being on all fours in a human form, only you can't get up.