Betrayal

9

"You don't have to go searching for them this time. Come to The Pit with me. You'll find them there under my protection. You will need all the time you have before the fights start to regain your strength from the change."

After hesitating a moment, Percy nodded. A wave of Tartarus' hand and the scenery around them warped and recoelesced into a giant fighting arena. Percy and Reyna gaped at the sheer size of it. Easily large enough that two Titans could battle at full size without any problems. Maybe even two Giante. A soft whistle came from Percy's mouth. Other than that, they followed Tartarus silently, unsure of where they were going in this new place. Even Percy had never seen this place over all the times he had been here.

"Wondering where this is?" Tartarus asked, glancing back at them. Percy nodded. "It's in the deepest part of my realm. We are in fact inside my Heart if you could think of it like that. Without an invitation, you'd almost surely never make it here. To brave an attempt to cross the Five Rivers would be near suicide, even for most monsters."

Soon, Tartarus directed him and Reyna to a room to recover. While he rested, the others arrived. Zoë Nightshade, Bianca Di'Angelo, and someone he never expected to see. In honesty, he had never met her but the power she gave off was infact quite familiar. "Lady Styx?" he asked, hesitantly.

The girl was small. Especially after the changes Percy went through. He had stood at roughly six foot before, and now he was a solid six, four. This little girl was barely above the five foot mark. Short and petite, not what he imagined the super powerful nymph that even made Zeus fearful, to look like.

"Percy!" she squealed jumping into his arms. Everyone was shocked, especially Percy himself. "I've been waiting to meet you for a long time." Her voice was that odd stage in life. Past puberty but not quite a full woman's voice. Something you'd find in sixteen year old girls. Though, the more Percy thought about it, he realized it wasn't that unusual. Most of the Greek world was immortalized at that age roughly, the best age of the time for fighting prowess and looks, considering most were lucky to see the age of twenty.

He tried to pry off the immortal nymph but she clung to him like glue. "Uh...Lady Styx...can you, please let go."

She looked at him and purred, her voice deepening into that of a truely mature woman, "Now why would I let such a catch go?" She nipped at his ear. The other three women were red in the face from jealousy. Styx looked at them and grinned. "It looks like we'll all be sharing him the four of us, and that wisdom goddess. So you all need to get over that jealousy quickly. But...I am not so picky..." A mischevious glint came into her eyes as she looked over the other three girls. "Hmph. I guess I can't leave things as they are."

Styx waved her hand and an odd feeling came over the two demigods and the former titaness. "There. You all have partial immortality and are very hard to kill. While I am quite fiersome, there are monsters that even I am no match for. Against them, my blessing won't be of much help, but normal monsters and even Titans can't harm you now."

The three girls were dumbfounded as they looked at the nymph. Zoë's eyes narrowed quickly as she deduced the reasoning behind it, but even so, she did not say much. Her view point was not as narrow as it was under her former mistress. Such things were common back in Ancient Greece. Still, she wasn't sure how she felt about it directed towards herself. Styx looked right at her and a devilish smile graced her lips.

Perseus finally succeeded in prying the nymph off of him. They all chatted semi-amiably for a few hours before Tartarus returned. "It's time," he said, staring at Percy.

Without any further words, the former demigod followed the Primordial from the room. "So...am I going to be training with you?" he asked.

Tartarus looked at him with a hint of ridicule in his eyes. "You think I want to be absorbed by you on the off chance you get lucky enough to kill me? Huh, you wish. I will be throwing you directly into the ring. There you will fight until you drop. You'll do this every day until you become stronger. This ability as you know gives you a random ability of the monster you kill, but you will also have to increase your own strength and stamina as well."

Percy sighed. He knew it was too good to be true to get an easy ride to invincibility. Despite how long he lived in some of his previous attempts, he never really had time to test his abilities. It was constant fight or flight, so this would give him plenty of time to adjust and learn. With that, he stepped out into the arena.