Chapter 15 - bonded by chains of darkness
The void of the Underworld bent again, shifting its threads to another place.
Pov was to Ethan and marco
The skeletal corridors groaned under the weight of silence as Ethan followed too close behind Marco. Marco spun on him, eyes flashing with a sharpness Ethan had never seen.
"Why did you come with me?" Marco snapped, his voice a whip. "Do you think this is a game? This isn't training or a childish dare-you don't belong here!"
Ethan flinched like a scolded puppy. His lips trembled, but no excuse left him. Since the first day with his ADHD, no one had spoken to him like this-not with raw anger, not with disappointment. And the worst part? He didn't even know why he came. He had just... jumped in.
Marco's breath faltered, guilt slipping in. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Sorry. I-I just didn't want you dragged into this. If anyone's going to sink, it should've been me alone."
Ethan's face softened, the weight of apology heavy in the air-until the shadows parted.
Eden emerged. No sound announced him, no ripple of the portal. One heartbeat he wasn't there, the next he was, cutting down skeletal guards with compressed water attacks.
Marco staggered back. "How-? You didn't come through the portal with us-"
Eden"I don't know I was eaten by dark river"what could that mean hmm? But anyway as he walks the skeletons bones get crushed as they run from room to room clashing with the undead but suddenly
Fear slid into their bones.
It wasn't just the chill-it was paralysis. Their breaths caught, knees buckled, and their hearts thrashed like trapped animals. A voice pressed against their skulls, heavy, ancient, and absolute.
They had stumbled into the throne room of Hades.
Dark cages of skeletal hands closed around them. Marco and Ethan collapsed, choking on dread, while Eden's eyes widened-not even he could resist that suffocating fear.
The Underworld swallowed them whole.
Pov shifted to half-born where abyss was their with Leyla
Leyla's voice quivered, though she tried to sound stern. "You... you could take control of this camp if you wanted. You have the strength, Abyss. So why don't you?"
Abyss walked past her, silent, until he stopped. His hand, heavy but steady, rested on her shoulder.
"Leyla," he said, calm as the wind, "I was like you once. I didn't see Dionysus as worthy. But remember this-the camp wouldn't have survived until now if not for him. The gods never truly cared for this place. The one who defended it he hated it at first but, who kept it breathing... was him."
Leyla blinked, realization dawning, but frustration still clung. "Then what about Marco? Elizabeth? You brought them here-you forced them into this life. Why don't you-"
Abyss's eyes widened, just for a moment, then returned to their usual calm steel. He cut her words off.
"What's wrong with them?" His tone sharpened.
"They're in the Underworld," she pressed, her voice cracking.
The air shifted. Abyss turned, walking away without another word. His silence was heavier than any storm.
But now pov goes to maron who came to find his henchman
Far below, Maron muttered to himself as he brushed ash from his cloak. "I hate that damned fear mechanism... creepy little thing." His lip curled. The Boogeyman. He'd faced the trial alone and won-though he would never say how he just faded is fear since the boogyman basically their the boogyman is the underworld so he can't be bond.
Now, with each step, he searched for his missing henchmen. The obsidian spires led him toward a palace, its black gates yawning open.
A shadow cut across his path. The Dark Goliath stepped forth, sword dragging against the stone, sparks flying like fireflies in the abyss.
"You dare walk into my palace?" the Goliath growled, his voice cracking stone. He swung the massive blade down.
Maron didn't flinch. He didn't even look up.
"Bond."
The Goliath's leg fused into the stone floor. The monster roared, straining against the chains of reality itself. But Maron only walked forward, dusting his gloves as though he were passing a servant, not a chosen of Hades.
The Goliath cursed under his breath, struggling uselessly against the unbreakable link. Maron smirked faintly.
"I don't need strength," he murmured. "Only control."
He stepped past the thrashing titan, not sparing it another glance maron is smart in his own ways but
Pov: was shifted back to Arthur and the other who was in held of hades
The chamber of bone pressed down on them like a coffin. Their knees scraped stone, not from choice but from force-the weight of presence alone.
This wasn't power in the way of fire or lightning. No spell, no blade. It was the sheer existence of Hades. His presence was gravity itself, crushing their lungs, their courage, their souls.
It wasn't like the Boogeyman's crafted fear, clever illusions whispering their deepest dreads. No-this was primal. The kind of fear that made every heart beat like prey in the dark. A reminder: you could die here, and he would not notice hades one is not as strong as the boogyman it's just suffocating.
Arthur's fingers twitched uselessly against his blade. Elizabeth clutched her chest, fighting to breathe. Ethan whimpered. Marco's face was stone, but his eyes screamed. Even Eden faltered, jaw tight, blade trembling.
Then-
The doors of the Underworld burst open.
A gale tore through the throne room, and for the first time, the weight lifted just enough for breath to scrape through.
Abyss walked in.
Wind coiled around him like serpents of silver, pushing back the suffocating darkness, carving a sphere of breathable air within the dominion of Hades.
The god shifted on his throne, helm shadowing his face. The iron mask of the Helm of Darkness shimmered, hiding his gaze in other words the helmet make everyone invisible to abyss gaze.
Abyss kept walking, each step scattering dust and fear. His aura didn't shout-it whispered with calm inevitability, a storm that did not need to prove itself.
Then, without warning, the world folded.
Trial of Wind.
The air warped and Abyss blurred, appearing before the throne in less than a blink. The winds cracked like thunder. His eyes locked on the god of the dead.
"Do I look stupid, Hades?" Abyss's voice was a low growl, carried by a storm. "I can feel them. You know where they are. So choose-free them... or free your soul."
Silence, then a laugh. Cold, hollow, echoing like bones rattling in a pit.
"Who is this demigod," Hades mused, "that dares to challenge me in my own realm?"
Abyss's gaze didn't waver. "Abyss Isad."
For the first time, the god tilted his head. Beneath the shadows, his brows rose.
"The one who broke Poseidon. Two months ago." Hades's smirk was hidden behind the helm, but the darkness thickened, savoring the name. "Then this... will be fun."
Abyss raised one finger. The wind screamed.
Chains shattered. Bone cages splintered.
"Run," he commanded.
Arthur and the others didn't argue. They fled, dragging Maron's henchmen with them, fear snapping at their heels.
Behind them, the palace exploded with the sound of titans colliding.
The clash of Abyss and Hades shook the Underworld. Storms and shadows ripped through the palace walls, and for a heartbeat, it seemed the whole realm quaked.
When the dust finally stilled, the figure who stepped from the wreckage was not Hades.
It was Abyss.
His cloak of wind whispered around him, his body carrying scars of the clash but his eyes unchanged, unbroken.
He walked past the shattered throne, past the rivers of ash under his breath hades said.
"Broke my palace again and I will rebuild it before your next breath"abyss didn't care as he continues walking serious has dark scratch on his face but
he stopped.
He felt it. A presence-old, restless, sharp as glass-looming behind the palace walls.
As aeouls was their he spoke"dam he notices me I should go before I get the detective treatment"but suddenly wind crushed his movement his weight increased by the pressure so abyss grabbed him back"your not going anywhere"as he want to confront him about a lot
(Iralings here you would love the next one they all go home and abyss finally get his answers)