1st Place in the Percy Jackson Wattys 2018
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'"So it's settled then." Zeus said, "In order to solidify our truce with Nyx Apollo will marry Nyx's demigod daughter Ariadne."'
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Ariadne lived in hell. Not the figurative type of hell-she really lived i...
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Cai
I stumbled away from the spot I had appeared at. Breathing in the toxic air was a shock to my system. I had never experienced anything quite like it, every breath burnt my throat and inflamed my senses.
Once I had gotten used to the burning feeling, I was able to pay attention to the scenery around me. It was beautiful in the most horrible way I had ever seen. Shards of black glass stuck up from the ground like glistening rocks, the ground was made up of even more smaller glass shards, that were already ripping through my shoes. To my left, there were tall cliffs that stretched so high up into the sky that I couldn't see the top of them. Above the cliffs, the blood red sky was teeming with all sorts of creatures. I couldn't see them, but I could sense them moving around and worst of all, I could hear their cries.
Tartarus was overwhelming, to say the least. It suddenly dawned on me what my mother's childhood must've been like. Dodging all of the monsters that dwelled here, trying not to slip on the glassy floor because if she did that would surely injure her. This was no place for a mortal to live, let alone grow up. Death lurked around every corner, it was a miracle that she had lived long enough to get out of there.
I took a deep breath and stagged forwards, almost tripping on the rugged floor. After a few steps, I realised that I had no idea where I was going. I knew that Nyx's mansion was in the darkest part of Tartarus, as near to the void as it was possible to get without falling into it.
I looked around, trying to choose a direction. All directions seemed to be equally dark, but to my left, the landscape sloped downhill. I decided that downhill was good. Downhill meant that I was moving further into Tartarus, nearer to the heart of hell.
I began moving again, downhill this time, and as I moved I could feel the unseen monsters moving in the shadows. A memory came to the forefront of my mind, I was in a warm dark place, curled up tightly; but I could feel monsters watching me. Just like right now, they kept their distance. I realised that it was because of the power radiating off of me. Never had I felt as powerful as I did in Tartarus right that moment.
The memory floated in and out of my mind, and I spent quite a while wondering why I was so tightly curled, and why I couldn't see anything. It took a long time walking for me to realise that the only time this memory could have taken place. When my mother was in Tartarus when she was pregnant with me.
I came to a halt as a white building emerged out of the darkness. I stared at it, cocking my head slightly. It resembled many of the buildings on Olympus, which led me to believe that it was a temple or shrine. The power radiating off of it had a specific frequency that told me it was a shrine to Hermes. I was at a safe place, a safe place in hell.
I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!
If you haven't already, be sure to go and vote for this book in the HoO General category of the PJO Wattys! Thank you to every single person who has voted already, and to those who have nominated me for the 'Favourite...' categories! Every vote reminds me of one of the main reasons that I write, for you guys, so that you can enjoy the weird and wonderful world inside my head as much as I do!
