Percy's POV
"Ryan, hold down the fort while I'm gone! Oh and tell Melanie I'll be back soon!" Yue shouts out before charging out of the lycan sized back doors.
"Wai-what?" He fumbles with his words as we laugh at his flustered state.
"See ya Ryan" Athena waves back at him, following along just behind us all.
"Cerb shouldn't try and bite my head of this time, should he?" Yue turns to face Athena while walking backwards and through the shattered portal.
"If Chris told him once, he absolutely wouldn't dare do it again", Athena confirms.
The thickened air waves against my skin as I join them, I've been here quite a lot of the time but for some reason it's affecting me like it's my first time. "Athena" A deep voice growls out from behind the portal.
"Cerberus" She gives him a bit of a side eye as he leans back down to his resting position. One of the heads blatantly eyeing Yue as she sticks her tongue out at them.
"Real mature" I call out.
"Let me live my moment, that dog has seen centuries pass. I'm sure he's seen far more than a tongue being stuck up at him" She comments before speeding up the pace towards the palace.
"What's with the hurry?" Arthur asks.
"I've never gotten to actually explore something, especially not with you lot!" She explains while continuing on.
"I guess that's true..." I contemplate, feeling guilty for leaving her behind all this time.
"I've always taken care of the new pack alongside with Alex and Ryan, so I'm always the least up to date on these things." She keeps her face held forward but I know she isn't smiling anymore.
We make our way towards the top, now walking alongside the path of souls. "No matter how many times I see it, I'm never not going to be amazed by this place" Nimue gawks at the ceiling, flooring and just about anything within sight.
"Just remember not to touch them, only me and Chris can actually interact with them without a disturbance." Athena warns.
"And what happens if we do?" She asks with curiosity.
"No clue, but Anubis keeps warning us just like with that door." Athena points towards it, slowing down her pace as if concentrating on something before looking towards the entrance to the palace opening.
"Oh its restored itself already" Yue comments at the surroundings
"What do you mean?"
"Those pack houses you built have similar concepts, materials taken from cursed zones that prevent outsiders from properly navigating them. The underworld was constructed with the power of spirits, it's counted as a living thing. Not just any location." Jackson explains before walking just past Chris.
"And how are you guys?" Chris walks up to us, picking up Athena with an arm and causing me to giggle from the irony. "Not sure why you're laughing, you're next!" He rushes towards me before I could react, steadily holding her on his shoulder before wrapping his hand around my waist and putting me on his other one.
"You and Yue came close to something without realizing it, did you go anywhere in particular recently?" Jackson asks.
"Oh! There, maybe?" He faces towards the door the hollow was slamming itself against.
"Why would you ever go there!?" Athena smacks his head as his eyebrows twist in guilt but nonetheless he begins walking towards it against our will. "CHRISTOPHER NO!" Athena tries fighting him off but his grip clearly just increases.
"Shhh" He whispers out before placing us down and in front of it as the others stare through the door way.
Without hesitation, Jackson walks through in amazement. "This is the world I remember...the plants, the stones. The very texture of the air...it's been preserved like some sort of time capsule." He runs his hands along the darkened out zones that connect the two plains.
"Where is it?" Arthur asks.
"Avalon" He responds.
"No, I meant where is the hollow. Theta? This big dangerous thing everyone's been screaming about?" He panics a bit but follows in after Nimue, reflecting that once little brother he once was.
"We didn't go far in at all since it's apparently a maze, and well...that's a no from me. Best of luck though" Chris comments before attempting to leave.
But Athena grabs his arm back, "Actually I'm not the one who's going to be going in it."
"I'm not doing it Athena, I-"
She flicks his snout to stop him from complaining, "I'm not asking you to go in either, cause I'm not going in. Stop whining"
"What? Who's go-" He cuts himself off this time after looking at the smiling Yue.
"I'm staying here to watch over the souls passing through, you on the other hand. Head to the overworld, there's someone waiting for you in Oracion's tomb." Athena explains.
"Why me? I'm pretty sure nobody from the pack aside from you guys, have even seen me. Nonetheless this form." He points to himself in denial.
"Just go up there, stop complaining and tell me the moment you get back." She hurries him off, pointing him back down the path of the palace and to the portal.
"Fine fine, I'm going. See you lot later" He waves off before going in that direction.
"If something's wrong then make sure to tell me, I can probably step in to help but I can't guarantee how far I can leave the underworld for before stuff starts becoming more unruly. Be safe" She brings me in for a hug, looking towards Yue afterward. "You better make sure they don't get hurt"
"Promise!" She confirms before marching further into the doorway, encouraging me to join her just before I look back at Athena one more time.
-
"A maze, huh." I slide my hand across the scaled walls.
"Supposedly, this is the body of Chris' uncle. I'd find it hard to believe if I didn't see Fenrir for my very own eyes." She explains.
"Huh!?" Me, Arthur and Nimue blurt out.
"But this isn-" Jackson tries to speak but Yue cuts him off.
"The world serpent or something, it's unfortunate he never got to meet him I guess." She continues on, directing our attention towards the sky. "See that? That's our goal" She aims at the golden light in the sky, radiating above something clearly.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
"Well let's go then!" Arthur energetically walks through first with the rest of us pathing just behind him without any other comments.
-
The trail itself looks rather plain, nothing more to see other than curved turns every now and then. "You know...I thought it'll be a bit more exciting than this" Yue disappointingly drops her arms.
"I'm not quite sure what you expected, it's a maze" Nimue shrugs her shoulders at her.
"But...a fun maze? I dunno" She flicks a piece of the wall as if trying to find a sound to something.
'...Come' A voice pings throughout our heads.
"Did anyone else hear that!?" Arthur exclaims before excitedly running ahead of us.
"Arthur wait!" Nimue yells before continuing ahead of us.
"Fun maze!" Yue yells at an equal pitch before running to them.
Jackson walks just beside me as we prepare to catch up to them, "Don't think you guys realized the issue here"
"And what's that?" I ask.
"If this is Jormungandr's body, there's no turns to it. It's a body, it can't bend into two different paths."
"Wait then were's Arthur headed?"
"No clue, but it isn't going to be far" He begins to run, leaving me behind to race after them myself.
-
"ARTHURRRR!" Yue screams out through our ears as we just come up behind her.
"What's the-...oh" I look further on, noticing two different paths. "What were you saying, Jackson?" I look towards him.
"I-can't explain this, what could of cut through him to leave the body petrified and actually turning this into a...maze" He looks back at the golden light with a frown on his face before looking back at Yue.
"How the did you lose them both?" He asks her.
"How did you lose them! You were right behind us! C'mon, we're going this way Jackson, Percy." She comes back to us, pulling him by the arm to the left path.
"Wa-i-t" He hops along the floor as she attempts to run with him.
"Got your fun yet?" I ask Yue as she continues to drag him.
"Not just yet" She excitedly smiles. Looks like she definitely has to me.
We hurry along, still racing like before until Yue suddenly skids to a halt before kneeling down at a silver engraved plate. "What's it say?" I ask her.
"The one you've forgotten" She reads out loud before getting back up and continuing on without further explanation.
"Yue?" I call out but she ignores me this time.
I meet eyes to Jackson but he shrugs in response, just as helpful as her.
-
"It's been...hours. Can we stop now." I beg.
"Technically, it's been exactly 0 hours, 0 minutes and 0 seconds. The moment we entered this, we left ti-" Jackson tries to explain
But I cut him off, "Not the time Jackson"
"Yue let's just turn back for the time being, they must of gone the other path, right?" I try to grab her attention by speeding ahead of her for once. "Yue!" I jump to her vision but she blankly stares at me before grabbing my face and stopping me from jumping at her again. "What gi-ves?" I muffle out in her hand.
She suddenly turns her head to the right, kneeling down at an engraved plate. "We've done this exact circle too many times, I've read this tablet over and over."
"And so, what about it?" I ask with annoyance.
"We haven't turned a single time Percy."
I feel a slight shiver cross my spine before I respond back to her, "What?"
"Each time I've read this, its added a new line." She goes on to read it, "The one you've forgotten, he's here, I need you to wake up, Percy. Please." She gets back up like nothing, continuing on ahead of us.
"Wait Yue! You can't just ignore something like that" I shout at her, looking back at Jackson for a response but he shrugs again.
I feel a pit of sickness fill my stomach as the haze releases itself from my stomach, trailing across my legs one by one. One, two, three. It forces me to walk backwards.
"Where are you going Percy?" Yue asks.
"I can't help it! It's making me!" I scream out for help, reaching my arms out for them to grab.
As they pull on my arms they rip off the long sleeved shirt, trailing blood down my arms like sharp claws. They growl out with anger as they continue pulling me forward but my legs continue taking me backwards despite my resistance.
'Those aren't your friends, Percy.' A terrifyingly similar voice booms throughout my head. Freezing my attempts of resisting and causing my jaw to stutter, 'Look at them'. I listen to him, angling my head upwards to the ones I trusted.
"Let go!" I try and shake them off with a sudden panic, something's off with their faces but I can't quite point it out.
"We won't let it take you Percy!" They both shout in unison.
"Get off of me!" I more violently shake my arms away from them, causing blood to shoot from my skin as I tear them away from me.
'It's going to kill you if you don't help them' The voice booms from within me again, speeding up my pace backwards as I view the two figures now staring at me with bloodshot glares. 'In the corner of your eye, do you see it' The mist swirls around my throat, turning my neck ever so slightly towards the figure in the background, showing off its rotten flesh covered back and completely turned away from me. 'Fear that thing, fear The Spirit, Percy.' He whispers to me this time as if to not drag its attention, letting go of my legs and letting me have free reign.
'The one that's always been there, hiding in your shadows, living in the body you thought was gone, living among you all for all these years. You've all 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 at him, you've all 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 him, you've all 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 to him. The quietest breath that breaks the silence in the air, that's him.' The voice explains as I gradually watch it turn to me, opening its mouth ever so slightly with a silent whisper of a breath, "Dream" His Lycan paw slowly raises to me but I turn back as adrenaline fills me.
"W-" I hear shout throughout my ear drums as I run back down the path I came from.
"Wak-" It shouts again, giving me a headache and throwing me to the floor with a dazed state.
"WAKE UP!" Jackson's blurry figure comes into view, "PERCY!" He grabs me to lift me against one of the maze walls.
"We need to leave!" He screams out but my vision hasn't returned to me fully, I look behind him to see a white figure bouncing around a large blacked out figure.
"Wh-" I try to ask but the same breathy voice interrupts me.
"Bend" it speaks, causing a bloodcurdling scream from the direction of the white figure.
Stopping her movements briefly, "Tear". He breathes out again, causing her to release another scream. Fully bringing me back to consciousness as I stand up to my height, looking over at it standing completely still.
"It's taken the body of a Lycan but it shouldn't have the same strength as on-" He stares at me, stopping with shock written over his face as he notices my own. "That's the Lycan who owned the memories of that book, isn't it?" He answers.
"Oneiros" I call out.
He stomps towards Yue's collapsed body, looking towards her with an open mouth before slowly tilting his head before us. "Fly" He breathes out, sending her body flying towards us but Jackson tries to catch her, causing him to get slammed against the wall with her.
"Ire-ne" He coughs out with what wind was left in him, pointing towards the figure with a scrunched gaze of hate.
I slam my hands against the floor, shifting with a new intensity I've never felt before. My pure grey fur against my paws immediately covered in dirt as I dart towards the figure. "Protect" He breathes out, bumping my snout against something invisible in front of him. I thrash against in shock as I gaze at the markings left by Yue...how long where they actually fighting for?
"Liberate" He coughs, dripping the blood from his body and aiming it towards me, scattering myself back to my feet, running around in an attempt to avoid it. "Scatter" He laughs as the blood divides itself into pieces, halting in the air.
I take the moment to dive towards him once again, digging my claws into his disgustingly soft tissue of flesh, "Shoot". He breathes, sending the shots that pierce tiny holes into my limbs and unbalancing me midair.
"He can only give one command at a time it looks like" Irene's figure appears next to me. "I'd help you if I could, but I can only touch the things that Jackson's touching, the canvas was what made that possible. I'm sorry." She goes over to him, lifting Yue off of his unconscious body.
"But if you ask me...it looks like you already have all the help you need" She flicks her hair away from her eyes, sitting down cross legged as she watches me.
'Crest' I call out to him, shifting over consciousness to him as he already takes over with snapping and growling.
"Restrain" The beast speaks with a smile, reforming the ground and concentrating it into four different points.
Crest slides through the snake like shackles, biting through one before jumping onto its back and tearing away at its rotten neck as puss infused blood sinks into my mouth.
"Fly" He breathes out, throwing Crest away from him and into the sky. Feeling my body flail helplessly makes me feel an intense sickness as I gradually begin to fall. "Crash" the visible wind above us flows and concentrates, pulsing downward in a near skull crushing boom towards the floor.
'Crest get up!' I scream, despite knowing the pain he's in. 'Please!'. I continue to scream as the figure stomps towards me, leaning his mouth over my head.
"Di-" He stops himself from speaking, and instead starts backing up for some reason. "Protec-" He speaks out in a rush but a deep cut slices past his cheek, dropping his jaw to barely hang from one side of his face.
I take back over my body as the black haze swirls around me, twisting its way up my body and getting me back up like brand new. The weight on my shoulder increases as I feel a paw like figure be placed on it, claws tapping on my skin in a pattern. One, two, three. One, two, three. 'Do not disappoint me' The booming voice smugly calls out before relieving the weight away from my shoulder.
'Fe-' I begin to call out but a deep gut wrenching pain cuts through my stomach and slices me.
I feel my back legs grow stronger than before, bigger almost. Sinking the terrain beneath my feet I prepare to dive myself at him, only to caught off guard by his sudden interest behind him. The once shimmering light in the sky, turning into a beam and spiraling with a brilliant intensity.
They found it, didn't they.