Show Your Darkness To The World

1 ~ First Encounter With The Dark

(A/N If it weren't for my best friend Zoe who is an amazing writer, I would never have thought to write a story (well fanfiction), let alone put it out there for all the world to see. the_quirky_ravenclaw, thank you)

•♡°Edited°♡•

3rd POV
Ding!

The Doors of Death open and Percy falls face first out onto the rigid floor. He barely has any clothes left on him as it's torn to shreds, much like his body. He has puss-filled boils, gashes and red-raw looking rashes all over him. You almost couldn't recognise him. 'The chains. They're still there.' Percy reminds himself. He hoists himself up to a standing position and raises Riptide above his head to shatter the chains at his feet but something captures his eye. Hazel and Leo are here, but so is a giant, Clytius.

Percy's POV
'Great'.

I swivel on my heels and look up to face the 20 feet tall giant casting a deep shadow over me, despite how little light there was. But he didn't scare me. I've just come out of Tartarus, literal hell, why would he scare me?

As if he could smell the rotting stench of the sulphur on my clothes, the smell of his home, he turns around carefully as to not step on me. The look in his eyes show that he clearly wants to kill me, just not with his feet.

He looks to be concealed in Black Smoke. 'Mist. He's the counteract for Hecate. Or the anti-Hecate. The dark mist he can use to possess mortals. Annabeth said to me that once he's weak, we have to use fire to finish him off. Annabeth... Where is she? I have to find her.'  I concentrate on his form, trying to see the solid body that's hidden. He has a gigantic armour piece made of Stygian iron that encased his humanoid torso. He seems to have ash-coloured scales on his dragon-like legs. There was something else, coming from his head, but I couldn't make it out as I suddenly had to roll to the side to avoid his Stygian iron sword that is at least 5 times larger then Nico's. 'Nico... Where is everyone? Are they ok?'

He swings his sword at me for a second time but narrowly missing Hazel and Leo who are frozen in shock and fear. 'He's going to hurt them, Or kill them!'  Fear, fury and so many more emotions cause my blood to boil. 'I'm going to make his boil but not before I get the chance to play.'  The glass shards inside me shatter more, they may as well be sand. I uncap my celestial bronze sword, Riptide, as I get ready to have some fun.

Hazel's POV
Percy dodges another swing from Clytius as we jump back from the range of the Stygian Iron. Percy starts to smile but it's not happy. It's almost like a challenging sneer that's aimed towards the giant. "What is he doing?!" I hiss to Leo while still facing my friend and giant. Not long after Riptide is uncaped, Percy's eyes change. They're no longer sea-green or shining like how water does when it's reflecting the sun. They're a dull, broken, numb looking, deep green; like a pine forest at night. He looks at us from the corner of his eyes and I didn't recognise him. I have no idea what Tartarus has done to him.

3rd POV
Percy lunges at the giant but he's not in the air. He's floating on some water. It's in the form of a wave right before it falls. Faintly Percy hears Leo mumble something about the rivers in Tartarus in a rushed tone, earning a petrified gasp from Hazel. The sudden and hushed gasp is blocked out by the clang of Percy and Clytius' swords. Percy constructs a dome made out of the Phlegethon and releases its form above the giant causing him to howl in agony, vibrating the already week walls.

Clytius staggers backwards forcing Hazel and Leo to scramble out of the way. Hazel was in a hysterical state trying to calm down with the help of Leo. She needed to get the others, now. She closes her eyes and concentrates. She imagines Frank, Piper, Jason, Annabeth and Nico behind her and Leo. There's a sudden chill in the room and they all appear. They're all injured, just in different ways. They spot Percy moving around on a wave of water attacking the giant. They're relieved until Nico mentions that it the River of Archeron. All remaining colour in their faces washes away.

Percy then bends Archeron into a sphere and envelopes Clytius in it. He shrinks it until it touches the giant and he starts wailing in misery. Nobody knows what to do. Percy isn't killing him, he's torturing him; toying with him!

Annabeth's POV
The five of us are fighting then next thing we know, we feel like we've been dumped in ice-cold water. We open our eyes and see Percy. Except it's not Percy, it can't be. There's not one patch of clear skin and his eyes, they're not normal, they're so dark like he's gone insane. Of course, I'm relieved though because my Seaweed Brain is alive but he's moving around on water and there are no water sources nearby so I'm confused. That is until Nico says that he's controlling the River Archeron and see everyone's faces pale and I can only imagine what mine looks like. The giant is still bawling his eyes out while Percy's is just watching with this smirk on his face, he's scaring me.

Nico's POV
Percy is freaking everyone out, including myself. I didn't think he could control the Rivers. I visibly relax when he sinks the water from Archeron into the earth and he's standing on solid ground. But he does something else, something much worse. Akhlys' poison rises into the air and I register what he is going to do before anyone else. "Percy stop! Don't! Calm down!" I scream at him in fear of what he's about to do. He looks me in the eyes and I feel like cowering away in a corner. He's broken inside, he's too far gone. I realise that as his eyes darken farther, yet seemingly glowing. He turns away and he ignores me. We have to get out.  He's going to lose all control, or at least what he has left.

Percy's POV
I hear Nico yelling at me to stop. He's figured out what I'm about to do. It infuriates me. I see him shrink into himself as I look him in the eyes. I'm doing this for them! I'm saving them and they're not getting hurt so what's the problem?! I turn away from him to look at Clytius. Even he looks scared of me. He knows what I'm about to do. It fills me with confidence and power. Me, a 17-year-old demigod, is scaring a 20 feet tall giant. I feel invincible. He can't escape now. To fuel his fear and panic, I move Akhlys' poison toward the chains that are keeping the doors of death down and liquefy the metal. I look at him and he looks petrified. I smile, 'Good'. Look at me, I'm scaring him. What a baby. His Stygian Iron sword is on the other side of the room, out of his reach.

I move the poison towards him. He staggers backwards trying to get away but trips over his own feet in the rush. He falls to the floor causing the room to rumble and rocks falls from above. He tries to crawl back but his back touches the wall and he freezes in fear as he processes the fact that he can't escape. If I could see his face instead of the black mist, I would bet 50 dachamus that he would be as pale as a ghost. I grin eerily. The poison touches his feet, the closest thing to me. The affliction of anguish makes me beam. I look down and shake my head laughing. He's so weak. How are the gods scared of giants? That's when I see that I'm glowing, literally. I look up at him again and he looks like he's having a seizer. I realise that the poison has been in him for too long, I don't want to kill him just yet. I make it come out of him and I send it back to Akhlys' down in Tartarus. Time to manipulate his blood. This is going to be fun to watch.

(A/N ~ Heya! This is my first time writing anything. I'll except politely worded criticism. I have very low self-esteem so please be nice. 🤞🏽)
Word Count: 1' 470
~ Phoenix