When Things Fall Apart

Chapter Eight

Percy was falling for a couple of minutes. At some point, he literally became bored. However, that came to a quick end when he hit the ground... and that hurt a lot.

"Gaaaah," he moaned. Thankfully he didn't break any bones (at least, that he was aware of). He wiped the soot off of his clothes, and stood up. By that point, he realized why Tartarus was considered a place not worth visiting. Immediately, his eyes started to water from the haze he was surrounded in. Also, the ground released more of these vapors with every step he took.

He tried to find his bearings from the maps he had studied. He noticed a river down the hill from where he was standing. It was the River Phlegethon, the river of fire. At this point, Percy started to notice the blisters forming on his arm, from the air alone. He could hardly breathe from how dry his throat was. He decided to risk it. He scooped his hands into the water and drank it.

He started to shake. His body wasn't reacting to it well (although nothing was really reacting well with Tartarus). He gagged and heaved, but then the feeling passed over him, and his blisters started to disappear. 'Well that was gross,' he thought to himself.

He looked back up the hill, making sure that Artemis didn't take the trip with him. He felt relieved not seeing her there, although he did think about how her presence would be somewhat comforting in this wretched place.

Nonetheless, he made his way with the river. He knew that it ultimately led to the Doors of Death, the only escape from Tartarus. But he wasn't concerned about escaping. He planned to spend the rest of his life here after completing his mission.

At several points he had to stop walking and drink more water. The gagging and shaking never stopped, but he continued.

Eventually, he came across an all-black tree. The thing was massive, with no leaves. When he looked up, he saw several pairs of eyes glowing in the dark. All of them looked at Percy and appeared to be going to the lower limbs. Percy took that as a cue to run away, so he did.

He didn't stop running until he assumed he was out of their sight. From breathing the terrible air and running his heart out, Percy fell to the ground. He started to wheeze, and saliva started to goop down his lips. He crawled to the river and drank some more water.

When he stood back up, he found what he was looking for. Next to a large rock was a bubble forming. Inside of it was Hyperion, growing back to strength. Percy grabbed Riptide and popped the bubble. The liquid that was surrounding Hyperion fell upwards, as if it responded to gravity in the opposite direction. Hyperion slowly opened his eyes.

When he regained vision, he noticed the boy standing in front of him. "You?!" he asked. "You idiot mortal, you were the one who defeated me. I am going to kill you, Percy Jackson. If it's the last thing I do!" he taunted.

Percy looked at him calmly. "Your words mean nothing to me, after what you did," his voice started to quiver, but he prevented it from showing.

Hyperion looked at him for a second, slightly confused. But then realization struck his face, and his face lit up. "Oh, you mean that little surprise gift I sent your girlfriend? Oh man, I am so glad it made its way to you." Percy started to shake with rage. Hyperion continued, "Interesting thing about those arai's, they're curses. That's all, just little curses that anyone can make for basically any reason. But you see, they can't escape Tartarus unless someone lets them. And here I spent all of this time reforming, when someone else did all the work for me!" he howled with a level of insanity eminent in his tone. His laughter grew and grew, and Percy just stood there.

"You can laugh all you want, Hyperion. Frankly, I don't care. But the one who should be caring is you, because your life is on the line. And I am the one who is going to end it!" Percy yelled. Hyperion just looked up and laughed some more.