Percy Jackson let out a ragged sigh. He was tired, no not just tired he was bone weary. His muscles ached, and his head throbbed.
His throat was so dry it felt like he had been drinking fire, which was ironic as he had in fact been drinking from the Phlegethon, the River of Fire, one of the only sources of life and sustenance in the hellish realm of Tartarus.
He wasn't sure how long he had been down here now, time seemed to have no meaning in depths of Tartarus.
There was no night, nor was there any day, instead the landscape was forever bathed in an ominous red light.
He wasn't sure exactly how long he had been trapped in this hell, but he knew it had been years, maybe decades, maybe even centuries, he honestly wasn't sure. What he did know though was that it had been a very, very long time.
Of course his stay down here hadn't been optional, no he had tried everything to get out. He had walked from one side of Tartarus to the other, fighting and killing any monster that got in his way.
He had searched far and wide for any sign of a doorway, or of a way out but had come up empty.
Once he had even tried climbing the walls, that hadn't ended well, fifty metres up he had found himself a target for a group of savage harpies.
He had ended up having to let go of the ledge he had been clinging onto to stop himself from being torn off the wall and ripped to shreds.
This unfortunately had actually led to him falling off the wall. Luckily he had managed to grab one of the harpies and use them to break his fall.
Yes, he had tried everything he could think of to escape this hellish place. He had tracked down different gods and immortals that like him were trapped in the abyss and tried to bargain with them for a way out.
More often than not though those confrontations led to a fight, some of which Percy won, others he barely escaped from.
Still though at least the experience had allowed him to hone his skills to the point at which he would say he was a master of both the blade and his demigod abilities.
Probably the only reason he had even survived this long was his decision a few months into his stay in Tartarus to once again bath in the River Styx, regaining the invulnerability it gave him in the process.
Yeah that had been a good decision, or at least it had at the time.
Now though he had been trapped here so long he was beginning to curse his decision, after all the Curse of the Styx was likely the only reason he was still alive today, which is something he regretted every now and then.
Especially when he was having a particularly bad day, or had just had a especially nasty fight.
Not that Percy was suicidal, no not at all. He had too much pride to kill himself, especially in such a dishonourable way.
But that didn't mean, that he didn't occasionally on some of the day's he was feeling particularly low, go hunting for powerful enemies in the hopes that they would overpower him and kill him.
Not that he had had much luck with that, since he refused to fight with anything less than his absolute best and his time in the pit although draining had allowed him to hone his skills to the point of absolute mastery.
This meant that more often than not he came out the victor, with the Titan of Destruction Perses once kicking his arse only to leave him alive so that they could fight again later when Perses was bored.
That's not to say it was all bad, as there was occasionally some release from his misery, he had had a few good years. He had met a few decent-ish monsters and immortals whilst down here.
Eris the Goddess of Chaos was always a bit of fun, plus she was amazing in bed. He didn't see her often but when she did pop down to visit her mother, Nyx, she usually me up with him.
Which was a welcome change from the daily grind for Percy, it was just a pity that she wasn't able to take him back to the surface with her, well not without him being turned to ash anyway.
Kelly an Empousa he had met in his youth also occasionally met up with him, the two of them had even had a brief relationship for a few years.
One that had ended rather awkwardly when he had woken up to find her trying to drink his blood.
Suffice to say a sword through the heart certainly put a dampener on things. Though after she had reformed they still had an occasional fling, the monster Lamia also joined the two of them once or twice. Yeah that was a highlight of the year.
So yeah, although there were a lot of hard times during his time in Tartarus, he had had a bit of fun here and there.
But as time passed, Percy began feeling more and more drained.
His hope of escaping from the barren wasteland that was Tartarus slowly getting crushed by the realisation that he was trapped here.
Even if all the Gods of Olympus worked together he doubted they would be able to either find him or get him out, it wasn't like this place was as easy to get to of as the Underworld after all.
At least in the Underworld a couple of mortals had managed to escape. This was Tartarus though, a place that even gods and Titans feared to go.
Currently Percy was stood at the edge of the pit, his dull sea green eyes staring out over the ledge and down into the swirling mass of chaos below.
His black hair was currently matted with sweat, ichor and blood, as too were his shredded and battered clothing, mismatched articles he had scavenger from slain monsters and the occasional Titan he came across and killed.
Running a scarred and pale hand through his matted black hair, Percy's other hand began to absentmindedly play with the hilt of Anaklumous.
The Celestial Bronze blade covered in scratches and scrapes, showing the signs of its heavy usage during Percy's time in Tartarus.
He had been stood here at the very edge of the put for over three hours now, his dull gaze never leaving the swirling and boiling mass of chaotic energy below.
This was not the first time he had looked down and seen what lay below Tartarus. He had to admit it had always fascinated him looking down at the ancient chaotic being, the source of existence.
The energy from which the Primordial Gods themselves were spawned.
Licking his heavily chapped lips Percy released his grip on his weapon, a smile passing across his face as he leaned forwards. His arms spreading out to the side, as he overbalanced and fell forward, his eyes clenched shut as he fell into chaos itself.
Seeing only darkness even as he felt the skin being torn off of his limbs, and his body quickly breaking apart into golden dust the further he fell.