Chapter 22

Tartarus, The Black Spires

Unknown Time

Percy's POV (3rd)

"Again." Perseus has been training with Iapetus since he got here; however long that has been, he couldn't tell you. As Bob had once told him, down here, time has no meaning. It is constantly fluctuating: speeding up and slowing down to no end. "You are trying too hard Perseus, you must harness the power of Time as if it were second nature to you."

Percy let out an exasperated sigh, he already knew this, he knew what he was supposed to be doing, but he could never actually do it. "Calm yourself my friend, there is no reason to get frustrated. We have all the time in the underworld to perfect this." Percy took a deep breath and gave his ancient friend a nod. "Good now summon your spear to your hand once more. It will help you until you can control Time's power on your own."

Percy did as he was asked and watched the familiar celestial golden glow envelope him and the spear. "Close your eyes and focus on the energy that is all around you. Pick out the strands of time around this rock to your left and will them to go faster:" Percy complied, repeating the same process he has been learning for gods know how long, only to gain little success. Percy didn't give up on his task, he started to envision the moving strands around him to be something more familiar.

As if he were intensifying a current, he willed the strands of time around the rock to increase exponentially. Percy looked on in shock as the flow of time had complied and the rock started rapidly eroding; he continued his manipulation over time until the rock was nothing but pebbles and dust. "It seems you have taken my advice, just as Kronos used to envision the strands of time as a stalk that can either grow or shrivel. You see them as a current, one that can be slowed or sped up."

Percy took a second to catch his breath, not used to actually controlling time, it had taken a lot out of him. "You're telling me... that you meant second nature... literally?" Iapetus cocked his head to the side, "Is that not what I had said?"

Percy managed a weak groan in between deep breathes, "I thought that was... a metaphor." Bob looked at Percy confusedly, "What is a metaphor?" Bob suddenly looked slightly miffed. "You mortals are always adding new words into your vocabulary. Back in my day, we meant what we said."

"So you know what sarcasm is but not a metaphor?" Iapetus gave Perseus a small smile, "We are Greeks are we not? We invented sarcasm." Bob's face suddenly hardened, "We must continue your training my friend, we will not have much time before the hordes amass."

Percy gave a noncommited shrug, "I've been fighting legions of monsters for the past decade, it won't make much of a difference here." Bob shook his head and got a far away look in his eyes, "Not down here Perseus. I don't expect you to understand, but you will soon enough." Bob shook his head once more and strightened his back, "Again Perseus, this is a good start, but we must perfect your abilities if we wish to have a chance. Unless, of course, Ouranos has turned into a small rock over the millineum."

Percy rolled his eyes at Bob's antics. Suddenly a loud screech penetrated the air. "Curses, the hordes have amassed, and they smell your demigod blood. Quickly Perseus, we must get back to the fortress, I do not wish to fight these creatures." Bob started running back in the direction they had came, Percy was quick to follow, "What are those things back there?"

"They're an ancient race that lived during the time of the Primordials, before Gaea had cursed Kronos, he, the rest of my brethren and I fought them to near extinction, any that survived quickly retreated to the depths of Tartarus."

"Why would you kill them all?" Bob's expression turned as hard as steel, "One look upon their faces will tell you all you need to know." Another screech pierced through the air, this time, a lot closer. "No time for arguing about the past, we must move."

Bob and Perseus continued their sprint back to the fortress, what they'll find there remains to be seen. As they navigated through the ravine, a rock slide stopped them in their paths, "They've grown smarter through the years, this is not a good sign for what's to come." More boulders started tumbling down the cliff edge above, narrowly missing the duo.

Percy, who was currenty trying to discern where the boulders were coming from, stopped moving completely. As the rocks stopped falling Bob too joined his friend in his search, scanning the area above them. Suddenly clusters of black rock started falling from the sky, catching both demigod and immortal by surprise.

Iapetus was crushed under the weight of the hundreds of stones falling upon him, Percy however, was far luckier. Purely on instinct, he channeled the power of destruction through Time's March and shot upwards a wave of power, completely destroying any rocks or boulders falling down upon him.

Impatient as they are, The Horde brought themselves into Perseus' vision.

Looking upon the creatures, he quickly realized why they were hunted down. Their humanoid frame was a pale white, as if all the blood had been drained from their bodies. The part that sent chills down Percy's spine was their faces. The face of the beast was so horrendous it could send Hades crying for his mama; their long, sharp teeth appearing strong enough to bite through steel. Around their eyes is an unknown, red liquid, continually flowing down their faces; their elfish ears pointing upwards into the sky. What set Perseus off however was their eyes - or the lack there of.

Where the eyes should be were empty sockets, that same pale white skin covering the back of their eye sockets; the bottom of the eye socket seem to be where the red liquid originates from. Countless of these creatures started filling the walls of the ravine, the black rock slowly transforming into a pale white; as if a disease was spreading throughout the terrain of Tartarus.

Percy summoned his spear and took his shield off his back, before strapping it onto his arm, Percy took a second to look at the pictures that adorned the face of the shield, reminiscing of better times. As Percy looked at the barren, rocky landscape around him, he had trouble remembering the fields and forests he had once called his home. With a sad sigh, he got into a fighting stance and awaited for the creatures to attack him first.

With a screech, The Horde descended upon Perseus, prepared to rip the skin off of his body with their razor sharp talons and teeth. Percy fully embraced the power of his spear, allowing for its true, fear inspiring power to be released from the bonds Briares and Hecate has placed upon it.

As the creatures saw the golden light emit from the spear, Percy noticed some of them hesitate to start moving, obviously fearful of the weapon of the ancient Titan King. As the first creature finally finished its descent and reached Perseus, he stabbed Time's March straight through its skull. The creature's body went limp and Percy tossed it off his spear head. As the body reached the ground a horrifying thought came to the forefront of Percy's mind: the creature isn't turning to gold powder; these things are an actual species.

Percy pushed this thought to the side, he must survive the fight with these creatures before he can ponder their existence and how they came to be.

One by one, the creatures came to Perseus, each expecting a quick and easy kill and each finding a quick death. As the bodies continued to pile around Perseus' feet, his body soaked with the red substance which Percy assumes is their blood. As Percy continued to fight off wave after wave of these unnamed creatures, he started to realize that the creatures were moving significantly slower than when they first appeared to him.

As Percy looked down on his body, he noticed a faint golden glow emitting from his body: the power of time. Perseus realized that he had subconsciously increased the flow of time around his body and improved the speed of his attacks and movements. Proud of his accomplishment, Perseus continued to cut down any creature that came close to himself with a small smile plastered upon his face, 'Bob's going to be so proud of me when he finds out I did this.'

As Percy cut down the last creature, the cluster of rocks Bob had been buried under started rumbling. Suddenly, all of the rocks had shot up into the air, revealing a very angry Iapetus, "Horde spawn! I will rip you-" Iapetus took a long, confused look around the ravine, "Why is the ground white? Where is the enemy?"

Perseus let out a long sigh and patted the Titan on his shoulder, "Come on Iapetus, we have some talking to do.