the new gods of olympus • percy jackson

Chapter 22: The Return of My Professor

Chapter 22: The Return of My Professor

Nico's POV

I fell for what felt like an eternity. The only thing that I could see was pure darkness, which was slightly comforting as I was falling to my nightmares.

I swiftly tucked and rolled as I hit the ground, the horrid sulfuric smell overwhelming me immediately. My mind became flooded with flashbacks the moment I hit the ground, and it took everything in me to not keel over and give into the nightmares. The only mission I have now is to find the rest of them and defeat Tartarus.

I wandered the terrain of Tartarus, the only thing leading me towards the Seven being the footprints scattering the ground.

I killed a few Empousa and Dracanae along the way, nothing too difficult. This was definitely not the Tartarus I remember and relive every day.

And of course, I spoke way too soon.

"Dr. Thorn?" I spoke, seeing my old teacher walk right in front of me with a devious smile on his face.

"We meet again Mr. Di Angelo," He sent another devilish smirk my way. "I hope you're ready to die." So this is what I get for not turning in my science homework.

I quickly unsheathed my Stygian Iron sword, that I have to name soon, since everyone else's weapons have names.

"Bring it on," I smirked right back at him, making him roar in offense. I guess Percy has been rubbing off on me lately. Dr. Thorn's body began to morph, his top half elongating into the form of a lion, with a scorpion's tail forming on his rear. And still front and center, was Dr. Thorn, otherwise known as the Manticore's ugly face staring right at me.

The Manticore lunged at me, nearly taking a bite out of my arm before I swiftly side-stepped him, slashing at him with my sword. I made contact, and his side began gushing gold dust. He roared in pain, his scorpion tail swiping at me. I dodged again, but not quickly enough I guess, because the very tip of his razor-sharp tail made a deep cut in my side, making me whimper in pain. Golden ichor bled out of my wound, but I ignored the slight stinging and kept on fighting.

Poison shot out of his tail, nearly hitting me right where my cut was but I dodged it just in time. The Manticore put up a good fight, that's for sure. His tail cut me again, this time injuring my shoulder. I gritted my teeth, the pain being much worse than the last cut. But by the time I had gotten my composure back together, I could already feel the wound closing.

I've had enough of this fight, it's time to end it.

I flipped over his body, stabbing my sword into his back while in midair. Wow, that felt really cool. The Manticore screamed in pain, before his body reduced itself to golden dust. I kicked the pile of dust that used to be my teacher, muttering curses at it.

That took up way too much of my time, for all I know the Seven could already be at the heart and I came all this way for nothing.

I trudged on, not encountering very many monsters, thankfully. After ten or so minutes I came to a large empty space, an outline of an arena etched in the ground. This was the only barren part of land I had ever seen in Tartarus, it wasn't covered in spiked rocks or giant blisters with reforming monsters inside of them. The Seven have definitely been here.

And sure enough, there were several pairs of footprints leading forward. Right towards Nyx's Mansion of the Night. Oh great.

I began following the footprints, walking briskly through the dirt. I had already wasted enough time fighting Dr. Thorn, and I couldn't waste any more. I walked for what felt like an eternity before I heard a familiar voice speaking in the distance.

"...chased down by Nyx and her kids" Percy. I ran in the direction of his voice. They can't be that far can they? I sprinted for a minute, seeing the familiar head of curly brown hair only 30 feet away from me. Hazel.

"Hazel? Percy? Annabeth?" I yelled out to them, causing all Seven to turn to me in a fighting stance. But the moment they realized it was me, their faces were overcome with shock.

"Nico?" Hazel whispered in shock, before rushing over and enveloping me in a tight hug. And after she released me from her death grip, she immediately decked me in the face.

"Holy shicst.." I grabbed my cheek, cradling it. Even with my godly immortality, that hurt like heck.

"Why in Hades are you here!?" She was close to yelling, but she knew better than to attract more monsters to our area.

"I had to help. I've been down here too, I know my way around," At least I think I know my way around. Annabeth and Percy probably know more than I do, since I was captured pretty early in my journey down here. But I still know a lot, I am the God of the Underworld after all. (I was gonna say something about being a demigod then I realized this whole story is about how they're gods not demigods lolz).

"Nico, you're supposed to be helping on the surface, we're fine down here," Hazel argued with me. Godhood sure did make her more stubborn than she used to be.

"Hazel, they have more than enough help and resources on the surface. You guys have the hardest battle to fight down here, and you need all the help you can get." I argued back. Hazel opened her mouth to say something else but Percy interrupted her before she could.

"Hazel he's right, we need all the help we can get here. The prophecy stated that the heroes of the Second Great Prophecy were to come down here, and he's as much of a hero as we are." Percy paused for effect. "Welcome to the team Nico," He gave me that devilish smile of his and gave me a nice, brotherly hug.

"Now let's get a move on, we have parents to rescue and Primordials to defeat," Jason said, and everyone nodded in agreement.

The group began walking again, and I trailed along in the back with Jason while Annabeth and Percy took the lead.

We walked in silence for a while, the only sound being the River Acheron's fiery waters rushing in the distance and the occasional roar of a monster.

"I'm really glad you're here Nico, we could really use your Underworld experience down here," Jason spoke up silently after a few minutes of quiet.

"You guys needed me, I knew it. You guys jumped down here to save the world and I couldn't stand by and just watch," I replied, and he nodded.

"You're really brave Nico, probably the bravest out of all of us. Thanks for coming to help us," He finished, leaving me shocked as he walked forward towards Piper.

Me? The bravest? There was no way. Every single person here was brave, it took insane amounts of bravery to even step into Tartarus. We are all brave, and we needed as much bravery and courage as we can get to defeat Tartarus. And we definitely had enough bravery to defeat him, but let's hope that we actually can.

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HERE'S TO CHEESY ENDINGS BC THIS AUTHOR DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO WRITE!

anyways, hello guys! i hope you guys liked this chapter, it was weird writing in Nico's POV but it was fun. i'm so used to writing in Percy and Annabeth's pov it's gonna be weirrd writing in different ones like I will for these up and coming chapters. The only POV's I have left to write out of the 7 are Frank and Jason I believe, and then I'll probably write a lot more in Piper, Leo, Hazel, and Nico's pov for these Tartarus chapters. and don't worry, there's still gonna be a lot of Percy and Annabeth sprinkled in there too.

by request, i am also bringing back the question of the chapter! this chapter's question is:

who are your favorite youtubers?

my favorites are liza koshy, david dobrik, joe sugg, logan paul, and markiplier.

anyways, i'm gonna be posting a note right after this is published, so look out for that and please read it!

vote, comment, share, and follow for more updates,

i love you all,

xmaiax