Where fear does not exist - chapter 16
Abyss's eyes narrowed as the winds circled between him and Aeolus, invisible currents crackling like quiet whispers.
"Why did you help me?" he asked, his tone flat but sharp. "Back then, against Ladon-you gave me the wind. You know you did."
Aeolus tilted his head, unreadable.
"How do you know it was me?"
"My instincts," Abyss replied without hesitation. "And if it wasn't you... then explain Tartarus. I felt it. The same winds, guiding me out. Whispering my escape."
Aeolus said nothing. His silence was heavier than denial.
Cut to the group.
They stumbled through the underworld passage, even Maron with them-reluctantly, but still alive. That's when the ground shook. A dark serpent, scales slick with shadows, uncoiled before them.
Arthur fumbled the artifact Noah had given him. He aimed. Fired. A streak of blinding energy shot into the serpent's mouth.
And then-Noah appeared inside it.
The beast gagged, convulsing as Noah burned a fire-type artifact in its throat. With a roar, the serpent spat him out, smoke trailing from its jaws.
"Noah?!" Arthur's face went pale. "I thought-it was a one-shot weapon-"
"You freak!" Noah snapped, coughing, charred but alive. "Why would you use it inside a monster?!"
Arthur stammered, "I... I saw no instructions on it!"
Back to Abyss.
He drifted back toward them, his fingers twitching with the faint hum of unseen blades. Be the seed of change? Aeolus's words lingered in his mind. What did he mean...?
Without a word, Abyss pointed at the serpent. Invisible razors shrieked across the air-
-And the beast fell in silent pieces before it even realized it was dead.
The group froze.
Ethan broke the silence, his voice trembling with both awe and irritation. "Why... why'd you help us, anyway?"
Abyss's gaze sharpened, annoyed. "Be grateful. And no questions. Or else."
"Or else what?" Ethan pressed, jaw tightening.
Abyss tilted his head, voice cold as steel. "Or else I shove you back in the hole."
Clarita, ever curious, couldn't resist. "Then how did you even get through the Boogeyman?"
(So it deserves a flashback! Btw I am iraling your loved author)
Flashback.
The Boogeyman crept forward, claws scraping against the void, shadows stretching like hungry jaws. It struck at Abyss-
-but its claws never touched.
Instead, the air around Abyss stretched, pulled, and bent into something else. Something darker. A void.
For the first time, the Boogeyman faltered.
The emptiness before him was not resistance, not strength, not even courage. It was nothing. A hollow vastness that made him feel smaller than he had ever known, as though he himself no longer existed.
He staggered back, trembling. The sensation of self slipped away. Even his own voice could not carry in that place.
Words did not sound. They appeared, written across the black air, as though reality itself had spoken them:
"How do you have no fear?"
Abyss's eyes flickered faintly, unreadable. His own answer surfaced in the same way, etched into the void:
"My mother stripped my emotions as a kid. But here's the thing-"
"I can rediscover them."
"Last time I checked..."
His gaze cut into the hollow creature.
"...you're not scary to me."
The Boogeyman recoiled, swallowed by the same void it tried to command.
This way, the Boogeyman doesn't just fail-it is undone by something older and colder than its own essence.(Just to let you know abyss did not see the void or anything to him the world is just the dark forest and the boogyman vibrating for some reason)
Back to presents
Abyss said "I just simply pass the test yk confronting my fear"
After that they back to the camp:
The camp smelled of sun-baked pine and fresh earth-a sharp contrast to the darkness of the Underworld. The group trudged through the familiar paths, exhausted, but alive.
Ethan and Clarita didn't waste a moment. Their steps quickened, hearts hammering, until the medical pavilion came into view-Apollo's domain, filled with gleaming instruments and the faint scent of herbs and antiseptics.
And there he was: Enligh, bruised but smiling, seated on a cot.
"Enligh!" Ethan breathed, relief washing over him like a tide. Clarita's hands trembled as she reached for her friend as enligh try to push them but away"c'mon it hurt you guys hurting my handsome face"which they all laughed as Ethan said"the medical section look cool"which stroke nerve to enlight but it was timed between a tense moment
Words weren't enough to describe it. Their confession came in whispers, in laughter, in the way they clung to each other as if never letting go. And then, finally, the world shrank to the moment their lips met, soft and real.
Enlight cringed said"not in front of me also stop calling us medical section we are Apollo cabin!"
In camp Jupiter:
Around them, the camp continued its own rhythm. Jack tossed a ball to a group of younger demigods, laughing as he returned to his normal life. Arthur returned to the cabin, shaking his head at the absurdity of the Underworld, while Noah headed back to the Hermes mail hub, grumbling about deadlines, but alive and eager to work.
The world was steady, safe-at least on the surface.
But Abyss had no interest in safety.
High above the camp, on the quiet rooftops, the wind whispered and twisted, carrying the faint scent of salt and ozone. Abyss stood, fingers brushing the air, his eyes cold and calculating.
A soft presence approached.
"Abyss," said a voice like honey laced with steel. Aphrodite. Her form shimmered with perfection, radiating a puer beauty that melt any stone heart"your been spreading negativity bullying people around the camp and slaying gods left and right your my son and love to say that in front of people making my reputation getting hurt"she spoke softly huffy as she was a mother scolding her son but hint in her tone that her guard is up but
Abyss didn't flinch. He didn't smile. Instead, he tilted his head, his voice a blade in the night air.
"Look who's talking about negativity. Thousands of faces in one place... speaking about negativity. You made me who I am, Aphrodite."
Her brows furrowed. "I... I-what?"
"I know who you are," Abyss continued, each word sharp, deliberate. "I know your real face. And it's ugly."
The goddess froze, caught between indignation and disbelief. Her lips parted, as if to protest, but the words never came. Abyss's figure dissolved into the wind before she could speak, leaving only the whisper of his presence-and a silence heavy enough to crush the clouds.
Later, Aphrodite looking at herself in mirror she's beautiful but here is the thing
Born as the embodiment of beauty, she had always been admired, envied, worshipped. Yet admiration turned to obsession, attention into expectation. In her adolescence, the compliments that once lifted her began to suffocate her. Were they genuine? Or mockery in disguise?
Drowning in insecurity, she developed a subtle magic-a gift she thought would shield her from doubt. It allowed anyone who looked upon her to see her as the embodiment of their ideal, the most perfect version of a girl in their eyes.
But the magic was a cage. Every glance, every gesture of affection, could now be false-crafted by her spell. Love became a question, admiration a doubt. Every smile, every glance, every whispered word was layered in masks.
Her power, meant to protect her, had isolated her. She had hidden herself behind a thousand illusions, and the world only loved the masks-not the girl beneath.
And now, confronted by Abyss's cold truth, she had no illusions left but here is the thing even without the magic she still the most beautiful woman alive but her desire for more blinded her of the beauty of life as she touched the mirror as it shatters into small pieces every showed the "mask".
(Hi their here is iralings did I cook?)