Changing the Future

Chapter 64

Seeing that I woke up at around four in the morning and had no desire to see my friends suffering, I hastily threw on some clothes and headed for the Big House, walking right into the library without sparing a glance to see if the coast was clear. I mean, Mr. D wasn't here at the moment, Chiron was most likely asleep, and Argus wasn't anywhere to be seen, so I figured I'd be alone for at least a few hours.

It's not like Seymour could rat me out anyways.

"Alright, you douchebag," I muttered as I flicked the lights to the library on, the single light bulb casting a small glow over a decrepit looking table. I brushed off some of the dust with the sleeve of my shirt. Then I found my pile of books and set them down on the table, coughing as the rest of the dust flew up into my face in a great big cloud. "You wanna play dirty? I say let's even out the score."

True to my word, I spent the next few hours poring through every single book, paragraph, and picture that had to do with Tartarus, ignoring the way my blood seemingly turned to ice as I learned more and more about the horrors he had accomplished when he was fully awake.

Like Gaea, Tartarus had taken to being asleep for the past few millennia, joining his wife in a semi-eternal slumber after their children, the giants, had been defeated by the gods. And though there was very little action from Tartarus the first time around, somehow I knew he was going to be a much bigger problem this time, as he already had some form of physical manifestation from what my nightmares were showing me.

There is no recollection of anyone who was able to subdue the primordial, I read in one of the books, scowling to myself as I kept reading the paragraph. Not even the mighty Hercules dared to challenge Tartarus, despite having ventured into the Underworld before. Furthermore, there is no known evidence that the Olympians themselves have entered Tartarus after freeing the Elder Cyclops and Hundred-Handed Ones during the first Titan War with the exception of Zeus's punishment of Hera by dangling her over the abyss of Chaos and Hephaestus saving his mother. No mortal or demigod hero has ever entered the pit and come back alive.

I already knew this, I thought to myself in frustration, grabbing another book, aggressively flipping through its pages. I found the subheading that I'd been looking for and started to read again:

Tartarus, the primordial of the pit, was the third sentient being that came out of Chaos. Like his skyward counterpart, Ouranous, Tartarus became a dome underneath the Earth, Gaea, where slain mythological beings go to be reborn, where the most terrible of beasts are imprisoned, and where darkness thrives.

The primordial himself is rarely found in a corporeal form – the last time this occurred, he married Gaea and had his children, the giants, twelve of the most terrifying creatures to ever be brought into existence, posing an even greater threat to the Olympians than the Titans. It is said that anything that brings Tartarus's attention towards itself will not survive the encounter, not even if it is one of the most powerful beings in existence.

"I don't care!" I exclaimed, slamming this book shut, waving away some more dust from my face. "Just tell me how to kill the arrogant idiot, please and thank you."

I opened another book.

Tartarus has never been defeated. Legend has it that there is no one short of Chaos themselves that can kill the primordial.

"Damn it all!" I shouted, sweeping all the books off the table, abruptly getting up.

My chest heaved as I tried to catch my breath, my pulse roaring in my ears. I dug my nails so roughly into my palms that I felt my blood start to trickle down my fingertips, something that I knew Will would complain about when he found out.