Percy Jackson and the Adventures of A Sister

14. Breaking The Chains

In the pit, Percy was getting really annoyed. The second layer was ridiculously changing. One second you have mud on the ground that hurts like hell, then you have a desert like area which has gigantic sandstorms unlike those ever seen. The sand reduced the visibility levels drastically. The sound of the wind, the sand on one's skin and the dust in the air render your senses useless. On top of all that, the sand was like broken glass. If you are exposed to a sand storm, you will be in a world of pain. In short it was way worse than the first layer. But Percy saw what others could not. He found the second layer beautiful. The sky was red instead of blue. Plants, deprived of leaves, grew in intricate patterns. The frequently erupting volcanoes were beautiful when they erupted.

The impact of the mind and of one's upbringing is astounding. People were told that Tartarus is a hellhole where things are destroyed. They are told that the pit is horrid, with no good or beautiful side to it. This makes one miss all the good in Tartarus. Even when one is face to face with the wonders of the pit they still miss them. Percy was not like that. Hestia's words rang in his head. "We are often taught the world as a coin with two sides. This is in fact misguiding. The world is not yes and no, right and wrong, good and evil, good and bad, black and white. The world is a complex place. Humans look at a piece of the puzzle and think only about that piece. Do not make the mistake my champion. Look at the whole picture." She had said. Percy trudged on through the pit.

Some of the things Percy was famous for were his horrible luck and his ability to anger anyone who is more powerful than him without even meeting the person. His bad luck kicked in. As if falling into this horrid place was not bad enough, he just had to meet a giant. He was walking near the banks of the Phlegethon when he heard the ground shake. He saw a massive giant coming towards him. The king of the giants marched toward Percy with a massive 20 ft long spear, lightning blazing. At least he was not attacked by Polybotes, who was the bane of Percy's father, which meant that he knew exactly how to kill Percy, but then again, Porphyrin was the king of the giants, so he was not easier to defeat either. Porphyrin noticed Percy and grinned.

"Well well well, if it isn't the famous Perseus Jackson stuck in the pit." He sneered. Percy glared at the king of the giants. "I managed to escape the prison you were guarding. What is to say I won't beat you again?" He said. Porphyrin threw his head back and let loose a booming laugh. The giant looked at Percy with an expression that was a mix of amusement, disbelief and smugness. "Well Jackson let me tell you a secret. The deeper you go into the pit the weaker you get and the stronger we get. The prison was in the first layer and it is not the top security prison in Tartarus. The real top security prison is in the bottom of the pit. We are immortal in the second layer. We will instantly reform. You have no hope of beating us. Give up and you will face less pain." he said.

A sense of dread settled in Percy's stomach. He knew he was weaker down here and something told him that Porphyrin was not bluffing. His mind raced trying to figure out methods to escape. He quickly dismissed the idea of running. There was no way he would be able to outrun a giant. Teleportation would take a lot of energy, but would be manageable. Rage bubbled within the god. First they capture him and then they restrict his powers. He was sick of taking the safe way. He knew what he was about to do was very risky, but he had to do it.

There may have not been any water for him to re-energize, but there was plenty of light. Frey could pull energy from the light, but it was not sunshine. The energy he would gain from Frey may not be enough, and on top of that Frey had to be very careful. One wrong move and he would end up absorbing the toxic air, which would kill  both of us. He knew enough about giants to know that it takes several seconds for them to reform and until they fully reform, they are vulnerable. He could not kill the giant, but he could stop him from reforming. He began distracting the giant.

"Why do you join Erebus? You do realize he is just a weak manipulative idiot who will cast you out once he wins the war." said Percy. The angered giant began boasting about the power of his master. He was done five minutes later. Percy had gathered all the energy he could without absorbing the toxic air. He gathered all his energy. He shot forward catching the bane of Zeus by surprise. The giant was unable to react fast enough. Percy stabbed his foe. Unfortunately the hit was not fatal. Diving to the side as his foe tried to swat him, Percy gave the giant lord a nice new bruise. It was a game of cat and rat.

Meanwhile Percy pushed Porphyrin back to the one feature that was shared by all the layers of Tartarus. The pit of chaos. The pit was too far to push Porphyrin into when he noticed what Percy was trying to do. Good thing he had a plan b. Percy began muttering a spell under his breath. After he finished, the spell restricting his power broke. This sucked out half the energy he had managed to gather. Taking advantage of Porphyrin's shock, Percy stabbed the giant in the heart. Just as the giant king finished disintegrating, Percy erupted into his divine form. What happened next was devastating.

The shockwave blew a crater with a radius of 40 miles. The water from the river of fire flooded into the crater and made a massive lake. Everything within a 150 mile radius was leveled, and every living being other than Percy in the range was killed and the remains of the monsters were blown apart and scattered making sure they could never reform at least within the next millennium. This was far longer than the normal maximum reforming time of half a decade. Percy stood in the middle of the remains of the giant king, which meant that Porphyrin's remains were scattered the thinnest, guaranteeing that he would not bother anyone for an insanely long time. He was not dead, just ripped apart into a billion pieces and scattered.

The destruction did not stop there. The shockwave traveled farther and leafless trees groaned and bent over. The monsters were killed, but reformed. In the desert lands huge amounts of dust was kicked up into the air causing sandstorms the pit had never witnessed. The monsters further out were blown back. Some impaled themselves on rocks. All this caused when Percy stayed in his divine form for a mere second. His energy drained and he fainted going out of his divine form. He fell into the river of fire, but being the champion of Hestia he was unharmed. He slept peacefully for the first time in Tartarus.