The Betrayed Hero

Chapter 7

After falling for a few seconds, Percy tumbled out of the portal with staggering steps. He felt like a newborn fawn trying to stand on its own two feet for the first time, while Chaos stood perfectly fine, as he had aeons of practice. As Percy steadied himself, Chaos patted him on the back and said,

"Welcome to the planet of chaos."

And he spread his arms wide, doing jazz hands. Percy squinted at him. For the creator of the universe, Chaos was definitely a goofy guy. Percy looked around himself. The setting was stunning; it put Olympus to shame. There were trees and flowers that looked just like those found on Earth, but some were unique. Their houses were artistically crafted in various designs, brightly painted, and surrounded by flowers. Their shops were brimming with goods for sale. Children were having fun. It was stunning.

As they started to walk, Percy noticed that people were looking at him and Chaos with smiles on their faces and waving at them as if it were normal for Chaos to randomly pop out of nowhere with random humans, not knowing how to react. Percy forced a smile at them. But the people here were different; they somewhat looked like humans, but they had some distinct features that made them different from humans. Every one was different; some had different colours of eyes and numbers of eyes (Percy was sure he saw a lady with four eyes), some had ears like elves, and some had claws. Everyone here was different in their own beautiful way.

When Chaos came to a stop, Percy turned to face the magnificent palace that was in front of him, encircled by enormous walls and watched over by the warriors. Percy thought the palace was the most exquisite thing he had ever seen, and it was surrounded by a beautiful garden full of flowers he had never seen before. Everything was large and extravagant within the palace. Following Chaos, Percy walked around blankly, gazing at everything. Yes, everything was lavish, spectacular, and unique, but nothing could ever again soften the Olympus hero's broken heart.

"You need to rest, Perseus," Chaos remarked as they came to a stop in one of the palace's numerous hallways. You need to eat, rest, and take a nice bath before we talk about other subjects tomorrow." Percy merely nodded, acknowledging that he was tired. The things that had happened to him today had left him tired. "The food will be sent to your room. Now follow my directions. Let me show you your room. Tomorrow, I'll arrange for someone to give you a guided tour of the palace."
They had to make a few more turns until they ended up in front of a simple sky blue door with a white, blank door plate.
"And this is your room; clothes are already in there for you, and your food will appear in your room." Percy smiled gratefully to Chaos, who nodded and whispered, "Rest well, Perseus," before turning to leave.
Taking a deep breath, Percy opened his new room's door and stepped inside. The room was quite simple, with a bed in the center pushed up against the wall and a simple white ceiling with lights above. The bed was pressed up against a dark navy wall, while the other walls were painted a dull grey shade. The door to the closet and the bathroom door were located on the opposite wall of the bed. Percy dashed to the bathroom to take a nice shower without hesitation. The bathroom was large and looked like it belonged in a high-end hotel, with all of the necessary supplies ready to use.
After showering and changing into the most comfortable sweatpants he could find and not bothering with a shirt, knowing no one was going to look for him, he dived into the bed, which was the most comfortable thing he had ever laid on, and ate some of the spaghetti that had magically appeared on his bedside table. Percy lay down on the bed thinking about how the day turned out and how his life had turned upside down in a matter of some hours from being a problem child, to a demigod, to the child of prophecy for two times, to being the hero of Olympus, to the betrayed hero, and now the one in the army, or as Chaos said, 'commander of the army and his assassin', his life did a complete 180 on him.
Unknown to him, his eyes filled with water as his fingers fiddled with the beads of his camp necklace. Percy sat up on his bed, pulled it off his neck, and stared at it for a minute before he loosened the necklace knot, removed all the beads from it, and kept staring at the thread. His thoughts were running wild. The necklace brought back all the memories, just like his Riptide.
Percy wiped away the loose tears that had come down and put on the single bead with Poseidon's trident back on the thread, clasped it around his neck, tossed all the other beads in the empty bedside drawer, and flopped back on his bed, trying to get some sleep. Percy finally fell asleep after nearly an hour of changing sides.