Chapter 31: Chapter 28: So light 'em up!
Here you go it's a long one
enjoy :)
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"What?" I asked out loud which resulted in confused looks from Tyson and Katie who were unaware of the telepathic conversation Nyx, I mean Nótt, and I were having.
'The sea obeyed your command to get you away from the snake," Nótt explained slowly, 'we're now in the Jötunheimr. The world of the Giants. A Norse world. This forced me to change into my Norse aspect.'
'You have a Norse aspect?' I asked, skipping over the entire, giants, thing..
She rolled her eyes, 'of course, but I think we have bigger problems.' And she pointed at the man/horse monster in the fog.
I narrowed my eyes and saw the outline of a man sitting on the horse. The fog shrouded the figure, making it hard to figure out what I exactly was looking at. But I could see some details.
The first thing I noticed was that the man was too tall for a regular human. Same for the horse it was riding on. At least two times as tall as a regular human.
"It's a Nuckelavee." Nótt announced looking at the mysterious figure.
"A what?" Katie and I asked.
"A kind of demon, its breath will make you rot." Nótt explained, rolling her eyes again. As if anyone was supposed to know that.
'A Norse demon.' Nótt added.
"How do we defeat it?" Tyson asked, which was a good question.
The Nuckelavee did not wait for us to discuss how to kill it, the fog cleared and it stormed forward at us.
The fog made it hard to see the distance between us but now it was clear I could see it was way closer than I thought, around 300 feet.
It stormed towards us over the water. Each step the horse took sounded like a drum being slammed in the distance. But the sound was twisted and wrong. Like a coming storm.
When it came closer and past the fog I saw what it actually looked like.
The monster had red glowing eyes that were filled with hate, as did the horse. The body of the horse and man looked like rotting corpses. I could see the lungs and rib cage sticking out, of the horse while rotting flesh was being eaten away on the man's chest. With maggots and insects crawling over their skin.
The creepiest thing was that the man and horse seemed to be one singular entity. There was nothing separating the two. It was as if somebody had stitched the two together and left it to decay.
As it stormed toward us the waves underneath the horse hooves began to grow wilder, creating a huge wave that was coming toward us.
The tidal wave began to grow. Even if we had any projectiles to launch at it, the Nuckelavee was protected behind the wave it created.
"Open the flask." Nótt ordered while looking at the wave that was getting closer and bigger.
"You want us to go through the wave?!" I asked, unsure about her plan. She nodded.
"The wave also blinds him from our approach," She strategized. "if we can pass it, I can hit it."
She pointed at the axe she carried on her back.
Where Nyx's weapons were pitch black, this weapon was stark silver, almost white. The axe was vaguely shaped like a crescent moon with runes written and glowing on the sides of the blade. She took the axe of her back and readied herself. I saw shadows wrap around her floor for extra support.
"Hold on tight!" I yelled as I slid open the lid of the Flask.
The winds exploded behind us.
Within a second we rushed forward like a speedboat. Skipping over the waves.
I turned my head around and saw we we're close to hitting the wave.
It was huge and loomed over us. It was so high it blocked out the sun.
'Chaos please let us pass the wave.' I prayed while clutching the flask.
I expected a hellish crash. For the boat to rock or anything really.
Instead we passed through the wave fine.
My eyes, which I initially kept shut, opened themselves. With a sigh I looked around.
The wind had protected us, and now, it was almost as if nothing happened.
I turned around to see that we passed the Nuckelavee.
The monster in question seemed to be surprised we got through the wave without getting harmed. Slowly, with a jerky motion, the man turned it's head back. Possibly breaking all the bones in his neck.
If it had any eyes left, it would have seen how Nótt hit him in his side. Her silver axe burrowing deeply into its rotting flesh.
A loud scream erupted from the horse and the man.
Ever seen the movies with Thor, how he hits someone with the hammer? Well imagine the impact of the hammer times hundred. That was Nótt's axe. It had no lightning or something but the moment she swung her axe at him he was blown horizontally out of sight.
One moment he was riding over water, the next moment he was soaring out of sight.
The only thing that proved his existence was the dying scream left in the air.
I closed the flask and was about to congratulate her when I noticed Tyson and Katie missing.
My eyes blinked. I made sure I wasn't mistaken.
"Wait where are they?" I asked Nótt. The girl in question seemed to be more worried about her axe than my questions.
"Who?" She asked innocently.
"Katie and Tyson." I told her angrily. A sick feeling began to churn in my stomach.
"Oh...they fell off the boat." She said, her voice flat. "It happened when we passed through the wave. Apparently you survived because you are the son of Poseidon and I survived because I'm stronger than the wave."
"They are dead?" I asked, trying to make sure I heard her correctly.
She gave me a thoughtful look, "Tyson probably not but Katie for sure."
"You're joking right?" I continued, trying to push the horrible thought away
"Nope."
'Percy, there might be a way to get Katie back.' Hemera suddenly spoke, made Nótt flinch.
"No." She is dead." Nótt said.
'But she died in Jötunheimr which means her soul won't go to Hades.' Hemera answered.
'I can get her back?' I asked, was there still a small spark of hope?
"No you can't." Nótt said but she hesitated.
'Don't do it. It's too dangerous.' Chaos added.
'Percy can manage.' Hemera said and I nodded.
'Yes, I will do anything to get her back." I said.
"Ugh...Fine, use your stupid flask and focus on getting to the edge of Jötunheimr and Niflheim."
"Where are we going?" I asked, but Nótt was distracted and began mumbling some things about stupid demigods.
I didn't even know what those places were, but I wanted to rescue my friends. And the seas somehow must have felt it because they guided the winds and the boat in a certain direction.
"Are we there yet?" I asked tired of holding the Flask. My arms felt numb, any feeling left in my fingers had died after clutching the flask for hours.
Holding it for that long was surely not good for my arms.
I noticed the change of temperature around me.
The sea was a lot colder here, if I wasn't the champion of Hestia I would've froze to death.
"Almost there!" Nótt said, and she pointed at a bay entirely made of ice.
Oh, did I tell you Niflheim was the world of ice?
Yeah, I guess if Katie and Tyson would be here they would be dead.
Seriously, the ice was everywhere. The only reason we could get here in the first place was because of the Flask which seemed to melt the ice. Something with the Southern wind.
We entered the bay and I gasped in shock as I saw what horror appeared in front of us.
"You have to be kidding me." I said but Nótt shook her head, "If you die here I won't feel a single regret remember. This is your stupid plan."
In front of us was the biggest ship I've ever seen. Made of nails. No, not those iron nails, no nails from humans. This ship was maybe ten times the size of a flight deck ship. I had no idea since I could not see the end of the ship. Only the front of the ship was visible, and that was huge.
But still, even the small part that I could see disgusted me.
Next to the ship was a rope ladder with a sign next to it that read:
ENTER THE SHIP OF THE DEAD ON YOUR OWN RISK, Surt is not responsible for any horrible death the passengers might have on his ship.
Naglfar, I recalled something Annabeth had told me long ago. The ship of the dead. Nótt brought me to Naglfar.
"Why are we here?" I asked with worry.
"For your stupid plan."
I nodded, "What is my stupid plan again?" I asked again.
"We need to attract the attention of Loki." She said it, like it was as simple as eating.
I nodded as if I understood anyting. "Yeah...Loki but why?" I felt incredibly dumb.
Nótt sighed, "because you want Katie back remember? Katie died without a weapon in Jötunheimr. Going by the Norse rules of dying, her soul went to Helheim who is ruled by Hel, the daughter of Loki."
I nodded while I tried to remember all this new information. Sure, Greek and Roman Gods were hard to remember. The Egypt Gods were also hard to remember and trust me; remembering the names of Gods is not a test you want to fail at.
"So we try to summon Loki because?" I asked not a bit wiser.
"Because we can maybe convince Loki to give us Katie."
"But Hel possesses her soul right?" I asked, trying to recall the exact words she said seconds ago. "Shouldn't we negotiate with her instead?"
Nótt shook her head, "No there's no chance in the world we can bribe her. Loki, however, is always in for a deal and since he is the father of Hel he can convince her to give us Katie back."
"Great. So how do we bribe Loki, I don't see him?"
"Naglfar is Loki's ship. We can threaten to set it on fire." Nótt said.
She touched my shoulder and Shadow traveled us to the top of the deck.
I gulped when I saw I was literally standing on human nails, "oh gosh, this is disgusting."
She nodded, "Yes it is."
Mmm…Maybe Nótt was different then Nyx. Nyx would be say this ship was fucking awesome.
"So you have a lighter?" I asked but she shook her head.
"No normal fire won't work. We need Greek Fire."
"Oh, great you have it in your pockets somewhere?" I asked, still oblivious to the plan.
"Nope, you'll have to summon it."
I paled. "Do you have memory loss? I can't summon fire anymore, at least for a week."
"No of course not," she shook her head. "My Greek aspect had a plan to make you summon fire again, but she thought it was too dangerous."
'It is.' Hemera commented.
"Yeah, I said this plan was suicidal." Nótt said.
"So how can I summon fire again, Greek fire, something I never have done before?"
"Ambrosia, eat Ambrosia till you're at the point of combusting and then you should be able to summon fire for a short amount of time."
I realized she was right. I thought about it. It could work, Ambrosia made me always feel more powerful. Maybe it was enough to overcome the problems of the Hearth for a brief moment but the thought of almost combusting was...not nice.
"We could always resume our quest without Katie." Nótt said.
I shook my head. "No I won't leave her in Helheim, besides we need her otherwise we fail right?"
As I spoke, I opened my backpack and took out the block Ambrosia and began eating it.
It tasted like the cookies my mom always made, and it made me immediately feel better. But after I took another bite I started feeling more powerful but I also felt my body almost combusting. It was like swallowing magma when I ate a piece more. It tasted delicious, but my body was trying to reject it. I felt my skin trying to burn itself in an attempt to lose energy. It was bubbling underneath my skin, all this power, all stacked up inside a demigod. I could make the boat explode.
"Enough." Nótt commanded, and I looked up to see my skin was smoking.
"Okay, I'm going inside your head and give you my advice telepathically. I don't want to risk Loki finding out I'm hanging out with a mortal."And with that she vanished.
'Try to set your hands on fire.' Nótt's voice said inside my head.
I looked at my hand and focused, immediately a bright flame appeared between my fingers.
'Now imagine Greek Fire.' Nótt said.
I looked at the flames in my hand and then I imagined them being green and hotter than normal flames.
I first started with imagining the heat that would radiate from them. The power that would erupt from it, the air around it being violated by the insane heat of Greek fire.
A second later the flames in my hands exploded into Greek fire. It looked like a regular fire, but it had a green glow to it. Almost poisonous.
It crept up my arm and engulfed it with green flames.
"Awesome." I mumbled.
"Yeah, would you please turn them down or you might destroy my ship." An annoyed voice behind me said.
I turned around and saw a man. He had dirty blond hair with streaks of yellow and red and it looked like he just got out of bed. He wore a Red Sox jersey, jeans, and white tennis shoes and you could call him handsome. Only the face ruined it.
He had scars over his face, especially around the eyes. His lips were marred by a row of welts all the way around his mouth. Yet he smiled brightly.
"Loki." I said and he spread his arms.
"The one and only."
'What now?' I asked Nótt.
'Tell him that you're about to burn down this ship if he doesn't listen to you.'
"I'm going to burn down your ship right here if you don't listen to me." I said trying to sound threatening, however Loki just smiled.
"So you came here to burn down my ship? Is that truly why you are here?"
'You want someone back from Helheim.' Nótt said.
"I lost someone a few hours ago, she is in Helheim and I want her back."
Loki's smile grew wider, "you lost someone? A lover perhaps?"
I shook my head, "No, just a friend, I was on a quest with her. Katie Gardner. I want her back."
"Quest for what?" Loki asked innocently.
"To retrieve the Golden Fleece." I said without hesitation and then realized the mistake I made.
'You moron.' Nótt said angrily.
"Wait...Golden Fleece, uses fire and travels without much problem to my ship…" Loki said thoughtfully before beaming."Wait, you are a Greek?! That's amazing!" Loki called out.
"Yes I am a Greek." I said, no point in denying it.
"But that means the soul of your friend doesn't belong in Helheim so you could get her back without much trouble." Loki said with a smirk.
"Indeed." I agreed.
Loki slowed down to think. "But how do you know about Helheim? How are you even here?"
"That's none of your business." I said angrily.
Loki raised a brow, "oh, we got secrets, interesting."
"Just give me her soul." I said, "we'll leave immediately."
Loki thought about my offer.
"Nope." he suddenly said.
"I'm gonna burn down your ship if you don't give it to me." I demanded but Loki just shrugged.
"I don't like the current deal. Maybe there's something else you could do to get her soul back." He said innocently, and I instantly knew he had a plan.
"What?"
"Well since you are a Greek, a lot of gods won't detect you…"
"What do you want?" I asked again.
"Something simple you could do for me." Loki said, "if your friend's soul is worth it. Otherwise, I just asked my daughter to torture her in her realm."
He had me trapped. I just gave him a hostage.
'You idiot.' Nótt yelled but I ignored her.
"Well, it's really simple, and you would do me a great favor."
"What?" I hissed.
"You have to steal Thor's hammer for me."
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so this chapter is 3,000 word and the next Chapter is also 3,000
that's why it would take some before releasing it
Sorry for that, I'll try to keep it shorter next time. I just hate to stop halfway through a chapter. Oh well. Nevermind. See you people later!
Oh and tell me what you guys think about the story I love reading reviews!
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