Abandoned- a pertemis story Ψ ☑️

Deep within. Chapter 21

You guys ready for another chapter? Scream if you are!
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Wow, uh, that's some deafening silence.
Welp... enjoy. - Internet Head.

ΩCarmenΩ
I stumbled on the rocks, grabbing onto the cave wall for balance.
Alexus put her hand on my shoulder, steadying me "your still not at one hundred percent, are you?"
I squeezed my eyes shut and caught my breath "not quite."
I heard Alexus sigh "if you knew that then why are you pushing yourself so hard? Yesterday you would have collapsed if I hadn't made you leave."
I shook my head, I didn't have time to tell her my reasons or my plans.
She sighed heavier "fine, don't talk. But seriously, take it easy." I could hear the warning in her voice. If I didn't do as she asked I might as well receive the death sentence.
Heard loud and clear.
"Yeah, okay. I'm ready to go now." I pushed off the wall and opened my eyes. I'd forgotten how dark it actually was in the tunnel.
The only light was given off dimly by small crystals embedded in the wall, though they were far and in-between.
Alexus nodded and gave me a quick pat on the shoulder before moving onward.
I walked after her, trying my best not to trip or get caught on the rough rocks.
I knew these tunnels but this is different.
I gripped a piece of one of the crystals on the wall. I cracked off a piece and looked at it closer, watching it dissolve in my palm.
These crystals were never here before. The tunnel feels rougher too... odd.
Though it was hard to leave my thought train at "odd". It was more than worrying. The tunnels shouldn't have changed, they couldn't have.
"Hey we've got company up ahead. They're... abnormal." Alexus warned, her knives glowing softly in the dark.
"Right. I'll cover you." I said, drawing on that feverish sick warmth within me to summon balls of flame.
Alexus nodded and slunk ahead, blending into the dark.
I'd found that she was oddly good at sneaking around. She was good at being in a group, or at least she knew how to participate, but if she were on her own I doubted there were many things that could stop her.
Alexus struck from the shadows, sparks briefly lighting up the dark. Those monsters aren't normal either... sparks.
The monster called out, a gurgling metallic call. That's not right. I'd never ever heard anything like it.
"A little help!" Alexus called, being brought down to her knees by a particularly savage strike.
"On it!" I'd gotten distracted for far to long. I sent my balls of flame flying, knocking the monster off balance.
It was just enough time for Alexus to take the monsters out. Unfortunately they turned to dust before I could get a good look at them.
I gulped in air. Of course I wouldn't be able to see much with fire. That makes perfect sense! Perfect!
Alexus made her way back to me, an arm there to steady me "that wasn't so hard. We've got this." She encouraged.
I nodded, still trying to catch my breath "give me a minute..."
Alexus linked her arm in mine and held me upright "that'll take too long. We've got to move, let's go now. I'll help you."
I didn't bother trying to shrug her off or anything. I was pretty lucky to have a partner like her.
For a man hating loner who happened to have a pension for near murder she was surprisingly understand and nice.
I use the term nice lightly, she's also a jerk.
Don't tell her I said that. I don't want to die.
"Thank you." I told her honestly, leaning into her for support.
She more than managed to hold up my weight "it's nothing. I can't just leave you here to die could I?"
I thought on that "why not?" I muttered under my breath. It's how the rouge demigods did things. I probably wouldn't make it to tomorrow if I was still...
Alexus and I kept hobbling down deeper into the cave.
"This is some cave." Alexus spoke up as it got hotter and hotter the deeper we went.
"No kidding. Whatever this leads too should be valuable... it might just be worth the trip." I replied. It wouldn't hurt to be a bit better equipped for this.
For a while there was nothing but the sound of our feet shuffling against the rocks and our heavy panting, the heat beginning to become intense.
By the time we reached a dead end Alexus was ready to pass out. Luckily the heat wouldn't kill me but I couldn't be sure for Alexus.
I set her down against the wall and handed her some water.
I picked up her knife and moved closer to the wall, using the dim bronze glow to get a closer look.
"Yup. This is definitely a door..." what I left out was that it wasn't Rouge Demigod in origin. This door was made by the monsters that inhabited the workshop.
Fortunate for me the instructions on how to open it were inscribed in Greek which meant I could read it.
"That's... kind of typical." I sighed and slashed my palm open with Alexus's knife, then pressing my freely bleeding hand to the door.
The door cracked and shattered, falling to the floor in a tumble of sharp pebbles.
Dramatic. I snorted, keeping back laughter.
I looked at the knife in my palm and back at Alexus who was so out of it I would've thought she was dead if it hadn't been for her rhythmic breathing.
I clutched the knife tighter. I've got to get in and get out. A few more minutes and I might end up like her...
But what surprised me was I the fact that I actually wasn't too concerned about that.
My main concern was finishing what I was doing quickly so I could get Alexus back to safety.
I knew she'd be pretty mad at herself for this but that didn't matter. At least she'd live.
I could feel the temperature rising in the tunnel. I had no time to waste.
I stepped forward Into the large cavern that the door had lead to.
I gasped at it. The cavern was aglow with the light of the small crystals that littered the outside path though these were bigger and more numerous.
In the middle of the cavern sat the biggest crystal I'd ever seen, here or elsewhere. It could've easily dwarfed the Empire State Building. Though don't tell Zeus that... he'd murder us all.
"Holy..." I wasn't exactly sure what the properties of that crystal were or why it was so large but I knew that if it was down here, that it was important enough for the monsters to find and obtain, I could use it as well.
A crystal sword? Forgive my French but that's badass.
I trudged forward, tripping on a rock and tumbling down into the dirt.
I'm glad the floor was dirt. Rock hurts more.
I coughed and stood myself up, continuing to walk towards that giant crystal.
The closer I got to it the more heat seemed to emanate from it. It felt like the very air was burning with energy.
I gazed at the crystal. From afar it had seemed to glow green but at closer inspection it seemed to swirl with all the colors you could imagine.
It was still somewhat clear and inside I could see strings and streams of hot molten lava inside it, spreading through the crystal like veins in a human.
What... what is this? I hadn't heard anything like this in mythology. Not Greek, not Norse, not Egyptian... not anything I'd ever seen and, not to brag, but I'd seen quite a lot.
I reached forward with my hand and put it against the crystal.
For a moment I could just feel the smooth and almost glasslike surface of it before it began to burn so hot it felt cold.
The air seemed to have stopped coming into my lungs and what little strength I had left suddenly dissipated like salt in water.
I sank to my knees as my vision swam.
Insanity stirs, little one. It'd be best if you didn't jump in a river full of it.
A voice resounded within my skull. It felt as though every word would split me open and cleave my skull in two.
I clutched my head as images flashed before my eyes, sounds and smells and even the feel of things danced across the stage of my mind and onto my skin.
I don't know how long I sat there on my knees screaming but it felt like an eternity.
I just knew that it was over and my throat felt raw.
I blinked and caught my breath a little, trying to make sense of what just happened.
I knew exactly what I felt but not what it meant or what memories came along with it.
I clenched a fist and stood up "what the Hades was that!? Are the gods just messing with us now?" I sighed and looked at the crystal.
Whatever the case some drug trip isn't going to stop me.
It took the better half of twenty minutes but I managed to carve out a large chunk of the crystal that would serve me well.
I grabbed it with my prosthetic, surprised that I seemed to be able to feel it, and hauled it behind me.
That prosthetic would never get tired and it could carry a lot more than my normal hand. It seemed like a good decision.
I stumbled back to Alexus and hauled her up, supporting her this time.
Her breathing was heavy and she was sweating like crazy. It wasn't looking good.
"I'm sorry." I told her, forcing her to get on my back. I made sure she was holding on before I lugged the crystal with both arms.
I knew she would kill me for this but it seemed like a better option than: hopefully she can stand, walk, and run long enough to escape the tunnel while I keep her standing up with one arm while I drag valuable material with the other.
I returned her knife, stuffing it in its own little sheath. I grabbed the canteen from her and opened it, finding it bone dry and empty.
Of course it evaporated. Did she even get a drink of it before it did?
I ignored those questions as I moved forward, one step in front of the other.
By now the heat was getting to me and sweat stung at my eyes making it hard to see.
I tried to push through, putting one foot in front of the other hoping I would get out.
The trip felt like one long memory of trying to go throughout the day on like two hours of sleep.
Occasionally those monsters from before showed up and without time to dispute with them I just sent a wall of flame down the tunnel, obliterating them. Unfortunate that sapped at my strength just as much as everything else did.
I can't tell you what happened for the duration of my time in that tunnel because I put one last foot down and my vision went black.

"What in the name of Aslan our lord...?" I muttered as I tried to sit up.
I found that I couldn't because, one: I was bone tired, and two: because I seriously could not work up the motivation to move that much.
I blinked away the blurriness from my eyes and looked around.
I sighed with relief, I was in the workshop.
Wait a second... where's Alexus?
I felt a momentary shock of panic but I realized that if we were in the workshop that meant that she was safe. Percy and Artemis would've taken care of her.
I groaned and flipped the heavy hide blanket off of me and sat up against the wall.
"Glad to see your doing okay." A familiar voice startled me.
I looked to my right and there, sitting cross legged on the ground, was Percy Jackson. He looked fairly tired but no worse for wear.
"Thank... you?" I tried. I wasn't exactly sure what he meant by that.
Percy rolled his eyes at that "what happened? You guys look ready to melt and Alexus is half dead." He seemed more serious now.
"Well. We found a tunnel that led to this giant crystal thing... it was so hot though Alexus's body couldn't really keep up, or so I think." I recounted, thinking back "I carved out some of the crystal and tried to make it back here before she died... is she okay?"
Percy nodded to himself, thinking this over "yeah she'll be fine. She won't be back to one hundred percent for a while though, it'd be best to let her sleep."
I smiled a little "look at you. When did you become a doctor?"
He laughed a little "well when your friend's boyfriend is a doctor you pick up some things."
I raised my eyebrows "or you spend so much time in the infirmary that you've learned a little."
Percy nodded, smiling "or I spend so much time in the infirmary that I learned something." He chuckled "jerk."
I helped out a hand "could you help me up? I've got a sword to forge."

Hobbling my way over to the forge and getting the materials was a lot harder than anticipated.
Maybe it's because I was running on like three percent battery charge.
Percy helped me as Artemis hunched over Alexus, trying her best to help her with what we had.
The crystal seemed like it was dissolving very very slowly but I took a chance and sent some of my fire into it and it seemed to stabilize, it also glowed brighter which is cool.
I had to chisel out the blade forms, Percy helping me smooth them out and cut it using high pressured water blasts like they did in documentaries and stuff.
The handles and inlays on the blade were harder, requiring a lot of heat from me and water from Percy.
Eventually we got through it with minimal damage to ourselves.
I may have accidentally welded two fingers of mine together but you'll never know the answer to that question.
Percy huffed as we looked upon our handiwork "I've never forged a sword before but this one looks mighty fine for a first time job." He observed.
I nodded "it's not bad for a rookie." I smiled at the look he gave me "I kid, I kid. It's excellent craftsmanship. Expert level. This sword is honestly a masterpiece."
Percy nodded solemnly "of course it's a masterpiece. It is made with our blood, our sweat, and our tears." He told me dramatically, shaking his fist to punctuate every material the sword seemed to be made of.
I smiled as I reached over and grabbed the hilt. The blade was light and energy seemed to race from the crystalline sword blade into my arm.
I felt immediately reassured with it in my hands.
I hefted it, the forge light shining off of the clear tinted whitish-blue crystal blade "do you want to test it out?"
Percy smirked and uncapped Riptide "I've been waiting for a rematch."
We took our swords and clanked them for a moment. Both of us separated, taking opposite ends of the workshop.
May the best man win!