Chaos rising

Chapter 2

A short while later, I found myself lying silently in my cabin, staring at the empty bunk above me. Cobwebs, that I hadn't bothered to clean out, swayed lazily in the late night breeze yet there were no spiders to be found. I chuckled, maybe they had heard about what I did to their 'mother' in Tartarus and decided it was best to stay away.

My dark blue pillow produced a muted crinkle as I turned my head for a better view of my alarm clock.

2:13 am. Great.

The sigh that burst from my mouth through its own volition shattered the tranquillity of the night.

I really shouldn't be surprised, any sleep that I had experienced since the end of the war was marred by nightmares, and extremely irregular. I usually woke up feeling like I hadn't slept at all.

My legs jerked, and I resisted the urge to vault out of bed and head back to my array of decimated dummies. The only thing that kept me from doing so was the thought of Annabeth's reaction if she caught me out there twice in one night- or morning I guess? It's not that I was afraid of her, or the Harpies and Chiron for that matter, I was worried that if she saw how bad my insomnia was, she would tell the others. Then, instead of a few slightly concerned glances from my friends in passing, I would have an entire 'make Percy better again' operation on my hands. That was the absolute last thing I wanted.

I clenched my hands into fists and took a deep breath, before I released it and allowed my muscles to relax. I forced my eyes to close and for my body to remain still, which took a considerable amount of focus with my ADHD. I filled my mind with everything I had envisioned for the future, Annabeth and I going to college, leading normal lives, living in New Rome alongside the other demigods of our generation,having children, visiting my mother and Paul for birthdays, holidays and anniversaries. I saw smiling faces and bright eyes alongside tight hugs and conjoined hands. I created a collage in my minds eye, one that contained snapshots of all the significant moments in my would-be life, and I concentrated on it until I slipped into sleep.

My utopia was immediately wrenched away from me as soon as my unconscious mind took hold. I recognized my surroundings instantaneously, and I was less than thrilled.

Even in a dream state, the sulfurous air burned my lungs. A ridiculous idea popped into my head of my lungs shriveling up from the immense heat similar to Shrinky Dinks. The sudden remembrance of one of my favorite childhood art projects was either a sign of complete and utter insanity, or a sign that my brain was unable to handle being faced with my worst fear yet again.

I looked around from my slumped position against the cratered earth, fires were sporadically littered throughout the empty area and harpy like creatures circled above me in the blood red air. I could distantly hear Annabeth desperately screaming my name as she stumbled around blindly. The arai circled around her, like animals closing in on their prey. I could only assume that she wasn't yet dead do to the fact that their mothers never taught them not to play with their food. I strained against whatever bond was holding me still, feeling an overwhelming need to get to her side. A very miniscule part of me recognized that this was a nightmare, but it's quiet reminder was drowned out by a flood of terror.

The terror was very quickly replaced by extreme and utter anger. The fury that I felt at the sight of Annabeth so close to death gave me the raw strength that I needed to break the spell that was holding me down. My joints creaked and groaned loudly as I rose from my position. Each step forward that I took felt like falling under the burden of the sky again. The weight of the world, the weight of my world, was on my shoulders again. The pack of arai closed in on Annabeth who was still completely blind.

Their grotesque arms appeared translucent as they reached toward her, the dirt and grime trapped beneath their fingernails was visible from my short distance away. I struggled harder, forcing my limbs to move faster and reach Annabeth before anything happened to her.

I continued forward, my footing becoming less stable as the ground changed to shards of glass that broke and shifted beneath my feet. A sense of dread became apparent as I took in my distance from the demons, and their close proximity to Annabeth.

My dread was reaffirmed as an arai struck out at Annabeth, creating a long slash from the nape of her neck to her lower back.

Annabeth and my screams mixed together as they pierced the sky.

The first attack signaled the rest of the group to do the same, and the floodgates opened. In a matter of seconds Annabeth was completely obscured from my view as she was consumed by a large mass of billowing black cloaks.

The last thing I heard was her tortured screams.

As my eyes filled with tears that threatened to fall, a sound replaced that of my girlfriend's disembodied scream. It was similar air racing by in a wind tunnel.

I reflexively closed my eyes as a bright flash filled my vision. When I reopened them I was standing in the center of a barren, snow covered tundra. Before me, stood a large, foreboding figure of a man.

Riptide appeared in my hand in an instant.

"Perseus Jackson," the man spoke, "I am Chaos. And I have been waiting for you."

A/N: Hi guys! I'm back after a very long break, I was having some personal issues so I took some time off. Everything is fine now, and I hope you like the chapter!