Chapter 70: Percy is acting strange

' Nyx '

...

Only a few things in my immortal life managed to shock me, giving birth to Hemera, two demigods passing through Tartarus.

Thalia, but only because she was a daughter of Zeus. That was a pun!

But Zoë dying was definitely one of the things that managed to impress me.

To be honest, she kind of grew on me, yeah she was annoying but after our conversation in Cloudcroft she was acting a lot nicer.

Now she was dead.

Okay, I admit maybe it was my job to get rid of the wolves, but I've never killed a wolf before, I assumed that they were dead.

I glared at the kitten in my hand, he had his yellow eyes fixed on me and I tried to interpret his expression, I thought he was trying to say It's not your fault, I was the lion you sat on. I take the full blame.

Percy raised him really well.

Percy dashed at Zoë and knelt beside her, I saw tears streaming out of his eyes.

"No!" He sobbed, "Please no."

Artemis and Britomartis hurried towards Zoë too while Thalia was frozen in shock.

I dropped Rebel and knelt beside Percy.

"No no no no." Percy started mumbling and I had the feeling he was going through a mental breakdown.

Artemis had an incredible sad expression on her face, but she managed to remain calm.

She placed a hand on Percy's shoulder and whispered something in his ear, probably trying to calm him down but it didn't work.

Atlas was laughing all the while, he annoyed me and I created a wall of darkness around him, so we would have some privacy.

Percy was breathing heavily and tears kept falling down on Zoë's mangled corpse.

"She's gone." I told Percy and patted him on the shoulder, "We should be going. Luke's cruise ship can arrive any moment."

'Mom, we have a problem.' Hemera suddenly said.

'What? Can't you see I'm busy?' I asked, 'Percy's having a mental breakdown.'

Hemera coughed, 'That's what I'm talking about, look at his eyes.'

I couldn't see his eyes because he was staring down at Zoë, I pulled his head up and looked at his eyes.

Artemis gasped when she saw it.

"What's wrong with him?" Britomartis asked.

Percy's eyes were rapidly changing colors, one moment they were burning flames, next they were solid gold. Second later topaz blue. After that it turned into solid ice, then...well, you get the idea.

Percy didn't seem to be aware us, in fact he didn't even look at me but past me, like he was in a trance.

'What's going on?' I asked Chaos but she didn't respond.

'Ai.' Hemera commented, 'It seems he's suffering from split personality disorder.'

'What?' I asked.

'Hey, I'm not a doctor, I just make up these medical terms.' Hemera admitted.

"Nyx, what's he doing?" Artemis asked.

Why did she ask me? It's not like I know why Percy is freaking out.

"Caffeine," I lied, "he drank a lot of caffeine."

Artemis scowled at me, but I ignored her and tried to get a mental connection with Percy, 'Hey, what the Helheim are you doing?' I asked him.

Percy did not respond.

'Hemera, what's wrong.'

'Code soulsplit.' Hemera explained, I sighed.

'I can't remember all those code names, just tell me what's wrong.' I said.

Before Chaos put the entire plot in motion she gave us a lot of specific instructions. Things like Percy should never attempt to control time, he should never cross Ra and a lot of other things.

Problem, my memory in this mortal body was not big enough to remember all those codes.

'Code soulsplit. Percy's mood affects Chaos.' Hemera explained.

'O.' Now I remember.

Percy's and Chaos's souls were intertwined, Percy's emotions slightly affected Chaos's but when his emotions became to strong Chaos would too.

This was happening right now.

And now Percy and Chaos were sharing thoughts, mind and feelings.

Which meant they were now completely one being and Percy had full access to Chaos's power and vice versa.

Even though I had the idea that Chaos got the bad end of the deal.

Chaos could not control Percy, not that it was necessary because they became one being.

Weird, I know.

The ground started shaking heavily, pillars collapsed and I had the urge to puke.

Percy started staring at Zoë again, I wrapped shadows around my feet to prevent myself from falling on my butt, the others had not such luck.

"Percy, Stop!" Thalia yelled but Percy kept ongoing.

Then I had the gut feeling we needed to get away from him, "Get away from him!" I yelled and stumbled backwards.

Just in time because suddenly 3 geysers erupted around Percy.

Quickly I created a shadow barrier around the entire mountain, making sure no one would be able to see what's going on here.

They would hunt him down if they saw his power.

...

Zoë stood in the DOA studio.

"Dammit." She cursed, "Stupid wolf."

Why hadn't she checked on the wolves instead of assuming they were dead.

It was her fault. She should've seen it coming but in the end she succeeded in freeing Artemis.

That was the thing that mattered.

Still, she felt like she had so much left to.

Suddenly the place started shaking, the surrounding ghost scattered away from here, she wondered why. Then she realized she was the source of the shaking.

No, she was standing on the source.

She rolled away from the spot she was standing on, and just in time.

A geyser of black water erupted through a large crack in the floor.

Millions of screams came from the water, screams of agony and pain.

'Acheron.' Zoë remembered, 'The worst punishment for the damned.'

Then the water rushed towards her.

She tried to get up but it was to late, the water dragged her back, into the crack.

Pain rushed through every vein in her body, it felt like her body was burning, freezing and drowning at the same time.

Every second she experienced a new sort of pain, before she fainted she had one final thought, 'Why me?'

...

' Nyx '

I recognized the geysers.

Being the Primordial of the Night I knew a lot about dark stuff, and what Percy was doing was some dark stuff.

One of the geysers was screaming, the water was black and swirled around itself like it wanted to die.

Percy had summoned the Acheron.

But that wasn't the only river Percy had summoned, a milk white geyser I recognized as the Lethe was also swirling around him along with a beam of fire which must have been the Phlegethon.

I was impressed to say the least, bending the rivers of the underworld and forcing them all the way up to the surface? That required some skill.

Suddenly the Acheron lunged at Zoë's corpse, it splashed down on her body and Artemis screamed, probably thinking that Percy was going to mutilate the body further.

For their own safety I wrapped shadows around everyone and gestured them to stay calm.

As soon as the Acheron crashed down on Zoë's body, it disappeared and I realized what Percy had done.

He had used the river as a transportation method, I knew that the Acheron could trap souls inside itself, causing them eternal pain.

'Percy, you know that a soul who has taken a dip in the Acheron will go insane?' I asked gently but he didn't react.

Besides, Zoë's body was in a bad condition to the point that if she would get back to life she would die again, haha, that's a funny thought.

Before I could mention it the Phlegethon crashed down on Zoë.

Fire swirled around Zoë, engulfing her in flames.

First I didn't understand why Percy was doing this until I saw that Zoë's flash started repairing itself, the torn limbs attached themselves and the bite marks disappeared.

Artemis and Thalia gasped in shock as they saw what had happened.

'The Phlegethon is used to heal. Even the dead can heal by its power.' Hemera explained, which I already knew.

When Zoë's body was completely fixed and good as new the fire disappeared.

Zoë's eyes shop open, and she gasped for air, then she started screaming.

A piercing scream only a tortured soul could make and trust me, I knew how that sounds.

"Zoë!" Artemis cried out, and she tried to get up but my shadows kept her restrained.

Suddenly the Lethe crashed down on Zoë, galleons of white milk water hit her face but the moment it hit her it also disappeared, making sure only the recent memories disappeared.

"Zoë!" Percy cried out and hugged the girl.

"Percy?" Zoë asked flabbergasted, "What the Hades is going on?"

I made my shadow disappear, and the others hurried towards Percy and Zoë.

Zoë was looking around in total confusion, "Okay, what's going on here?" she asked, "And why are you hugging me?" she asked Percy who quickly retreated with a blush.

Artemis approached Zoë slowly, like she could disappear any moment.

"Zoë?" Artemis asked unsure.

"Yes?" Zoë asked frowning,"Can someone explain what happened?"

"What do you remember?" Percy asked.

"Giving you the sword." Zoë said, "But how did I end up here?"

This was enough for Artemis, she pulled Zoë up and hugged her, "You are alive." she muttered.

"What?" Zoë asked but her question was interrupted by Thalia who hugged her.

Bianca smiled from her sitting position while Britomartis didn't look impressed at all.

"You died." Thalia told Zoë after everyone calmed down.

Zoë frowned, "No I didn't."

"You did." Artemis said, then she turned to Percy who she had totally forgotten about.

"How?" she asked.

Percy still looked dazed, like he had no idea what just happened, "I don't know. Honestly."

'That was awesome.' Chaos said.

'Why do I feel so tired?' Percy wondered.

'You summoned the rivers of the underworld and resurrected Zoë'.' Hemera said.

'Strange, can't remember it.' Percy laughed.

'Well, trust me you did it.' Hemera said smiling.

'Hey Nyx, can you do something for me?' Percy asked with a faint smile.

'What?'

'Catch me.' He said before he closed his eyes and dropped to the ground.

...

' Percy '

How did it fell to blend with Chaos?

Weird, my memories were suddenly mixed up with Chaos's, although I only experienced a splinter of her life but strangely I could not recall any of her memories later which was strange.

Like her memories were purposefully erasing themselves.

Anyway, after resurrecting Zoë I dropped down and blacked out, only to receive a nightmare.

I stood in the underworld on a river shore.

In front of me flowed a river populated with strange objects like broken toys, diplomas and more kind of trash.

Broken dreams.

I was standing in front of the Styx, but that was not all, in the middle of the river floated a goddess.

She had ebony that spilled over her shoulders, her dress was long and seemed to be glowing a dark shade of red. She had a delicate face with make up done in the shade of midnight.

Her eyes were filled with hatred, and she was glaring at me.

I gulped but managed a smile, "Lady Styx?"

Her eyes narrowed. "You dare to bend the rivers of the underworld?"

I frowned, "Sorry, isn't that allowed?"

I must have skipped that part in the Tartarus Tourist guide, in fact if I recall correctly I did before in my old life. Even though, back then I was already in Tartarus.

Maybe, I theorized, It was only allowed in Tartarus.

"Of course not!" she snapped, "My rivers are not to be used by mortals."

I spread my arms, "I'm sorry, truly, if I knew this would upset you…"

"You declared war on all the rivers of the underworld!" Styx snarled.

"What?" I asked, "Look, I didn't do it on purpose."

"As punishment," Styx said thoughtfully, "The rivers of the underworld declare war on Olympus."

I flinched, this was getting worse.

"And you shall die a painful dead in water." Styx added with a wicked smile.

"Enjoy your last days, Perseus Jackson."

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So, shit is going down, as for Despina, She can't be revived since she has faded.

Also Percy won't be able to use the rivers of the underworld to resurrect someone anymore. This was an one time only for Percy.

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