Nimue's POV (7 AM)

*𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬*

I turn over in my sleep hoping they grow bored and stop.

*𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬*

It increases in it's force as if trying to let itself in.

*𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬*

I sit up, feeling a sharp gaze pierce my skull. Leaping from the bed and charging at the door, opening it to find nothing but the blinding morning light. Closing the door with hesitation I look towards the room that Jackson lies in, confirming that he's still inside with a brief peek. Once again the bed containing a small lump, "Jackson I'm heading into the Underworld, come meet me there when you're up. Cerberus should let you pass after meeting you for the first time" I call out, hearing his small grumble as a response.

Deciding to get ahead of the day I make my way there after sorting myself out, staring at my surroundings and checking my sealed draw as I usually do. Leaving my home and closing the door behind me.

-

Walking through the central part of the pack house I bump into Percy groggily making his way down the stairs, "You up already?"

"Adam's gone...gonna go see Athena" He waddles himself side to side as if trying to conserve energy.

"Come with me then" I extend my hand out to him as he accepts it, opening the door alongside me while we continue our walk towards the portal.

"Isn't Jackson coming?" He asks

"Not yet, I wanted to find something out about him as some good news to wake up to."

"I see" He finishes as we reach towards the blacked out space, pulling ourselves through and being welcomed by the new green hued environment surrounding us.

- (9:20 AM)

Jackson's POV

"Get...your...dumbass...up!" Irene tosses a pillow on my head as I lay across the wooden floor.

"Nimue sai-"

"You're in here aren't you" Keyon's voice rings through the house.

"We-" Irene closes my mouth, placing her feet on the ground and running over to the door to hold her body against it. A few pushes causing her to stumble a bit but she keeps it shut.

"So you are, that's Irene I presume?" His tone making it clear that he's smiling. We both stare at each other with horror written across our face, his presence along stealing our voice, boring him as he takes steps back. Wandering back towards the entrance of the house.

"Why'd you block it Irene?" I walk up to her but she hushes me, creaking the door open to glance at Keyon's figure swaying side to side, reaching for items along the shelves with a twitch to his hands.

He picks something up from the shelf, flopping it around in his grasp before cracking his back towards us with a stare, "Oh...even monsters like you two have one too? Ironic." He smiles before placing the object back.

A sudden flick back to the way he was facing alongside the cracking of his bones, "WAIT! Shhhh, don't you hear that?" He rustles through Nimue's room, scratching up what I presume to be the walls and flooring as if in search for something.

His actions becoming less erratic as the man begins to hum to himself. Making our way further towards him with Irene leading we hear an audible thump while wood chips fly past the doorway, "It truly was her...imagine these long years I've been wanting to thank someone for my release. The beating drums of a heartbeat lured me to the place I was once forced to call home."

Stomping towards us we line up against the wall, now meeting eye to eye with him I stare into his pure white pupils. "Recognise them...?" He points to his eyes but I shake my head.

"Well she clearly does" He moves his finger towards Irene as she stares with a bewildered look.

"I suppose you're going to kill us now?" She firmly states.

"No, it wouldn't do any good. I'm not stupid enough to go against...you two." He looks away with a hostile look before kicking the door down, sunlight flickering off the object the moment he picks up his pace and sprints towards the pack house.

"Jackson we're following him" Irene states, grabbing hold of my arm and dashing alongside him without warning.

Earning a smirk from the side of his face, "So when did you figure it out?" He laughs out as if having fun.

"There was nothing to figure out. When Jackson touched you, so did I. Are you sure you really want to do this?" She speaks as if knowing his next motive.

"I-don't know what I want I don't even remember my function within this world" He slows down a bit with a deflated look, "But what I do know...is that this'll entertain me for a while!" He speeds up faster than before. Bursting through the pack doors and making his way to the back of it. Irene's grip only getting stronger around my wrist as she follows him to the portal.

"It didn't work last time, remember?" She confronts him.

"I made a miscalculation last time, something was unlooked. Out of them all I simply lacked power, but now I have it." He lifts up a golden engraved disk with what looks like a missing centre. Placing it onto the blacked space of the portal, punching it into the centre with an arm breaking crunch. 

"One"

He leans back, winding up another punch with his bloodied arm.

"Two" An uncanny green glow cracks throughout the portal.

His arm bursts again, bone sticking out from the back of his elbow. 

"Three"

His arm completely shatters, twisting itself like a wringed towel as the portal breaks in, releasing the black sludge and covering our vision as Keyon's distorted laugh fills my ears. 

"We're going to lose him!" Irene wipes the sludge from my eyes, allowing me to blink and confirm that we've indeed already lost him. "Let's make our way to the palace, there's no way he slides past Cerberus."

-

Running towards the entrance I fall into a trance like state, my hearing increased as a haunting wail fills my ears from the nearby souls. Glancing over to see Chris walking down alongside them, head counting or something is all I can assume. 

His keen eyes spotting me from the distance, waving me over to him. "Hey you good? I hear Nimue and Percy went on ahead!" He cheers out to me.

"Actually...did you see someone run in front of me?" 

Scratching his head a bit he looks around as if trying to recall a memory, "Can't say I have bud, sorry. Bu-" He looks alongside the herd of souls, biting his tongue to the sentence and making his way onto the road of them to bring one out. 

"Chris...?" I extend my arm to his fur but retract it when he walks out with a woman, her time clearly passed as proven by her translucent state.

"Joy..." He near enough whimpers out, making me stare back at her figure. "What happened-" He nearly chokes up into tears but she only continues to hold her dead cold stare. Her eyes lingering from Chris, to me...then the floor behind me."

"It isn't him Chris...it isn't" She whispers out as a tear falls past her eye and her form phases through him to re-join the other souls.

"What does she mean." He dead pans with a heavy stomp towards me. "What. Did. She. Mean." He steps towards me but Irene holds his arm. "You, you were in the library with us. Nobody introduced me to you." His eyebrows remain crossed as he turns to her.

A small glow filling her connection to him as she whispers to him, "Help us". She lets go of his arm as his eyes lock onto me now.

"The others should still be in the library, let's head there" We quickly turn on the place, making our way to the palace's entrance but a rumbling quake alerts us, turning our heads to the left as black tendrils release themselves from an ordinary looking door. Attaching themselves to the palace doors, ink blobbed vines opening it only the tiniest amount as something from the corner of my eye catches the centre of my attention. All in a blink of an eye.

"JACKSON DON'T LET HIM PASS!" Irene screams as my shadow begins to move, dragging itself through the slither in the door frame with a blood trail as Chris charges the door but fails to bust it open.

"What the fuck!?" He screams out, "ATHENA! LET US IN!" His deep bellows making the walls shake. Calming himself he closes his eyes, shaking his head over and over and over as if trying to get something out. "It's...I can't use my telepathy to talk to her, these things...they're overloading my head with voices." He goes to touch it but it sharpens itself into a needle to strike at him, swiftly jumping back next to us he huffs out a sigh.

"Anubis I'm going to need a fucking explanation, tell me what the hell is behind that door."

"What?" I call out to him

"Not you, inside me" He points at himself, still confusing me.

"Him and the other wolves can communicate to the Inner self or rather, their other half of the body essentially. And it seems he's got none other than Anubis within him." Irene explains but I still barely get it.

A sudden twitch within his body as he straightens his composure, "The Hollow, Theta. An anomaly along the prototypes, even us gods didn't know if he was truly real but nonetheless we didn't contest the belief that he existed. The one who couldn't be sealed within the same prison as the other Shades. I'm sorry Chris...but a god can't even be compared to the events it could cause if it gets out."

Another audible shift in tone as I assume their consciousness have swapped back, "So you couldn't of told us about this thing earlier!? This could of been prevented if you just told us!" He slams his fists down on a pillar as the green flames come crashing down in his rage. Waiting a moment before speaking out loud again, "A prototype...to something greater than a God? What would that even be considered? How would that even be possible?" He continues to shout, "Argh-" He holds his chest tightly, almost throwing himself to the floor in pain.

"What's wrong!?" I run up to him

"The voices...they're cutting my connection to him. Help me move!" He latches onto me despite the severe size difference, Irene practically carrying him on her own as we move him outside the palace walls and back into the route of souls. "We'll wait-for her. I trust her." He huffs out, looking towards the castle with sadness filling his eyes.

-

Alex's POV

'We're close' I signal to Yasmine as the rain floods out our voices. Receiving her nod we dive through the pack doors, shifting and placing our clothes back on immediately. "Ada-" I go to call out but a poignant smell hits my nose.

"Isn't that...rot?" She questions, lighting a flame within her hand. The surroundings completely dark and dull of life, the back doors to the pack broken down and moulded alongside the walls of the place I once called home. 

"Let's follow the scent" I state as we head further in, trying to create a link between me and Adam but something cuts me off each time. Wandering upstairs we listen as a voice makes itself known...Adam's.

Placing our ear to the door to Rane's old room, we hear him speak with a joyous emotion, "Haha it was great, we had a lot of fun." He speaks before waiting a moment, a sharp wind hitting me across the neck before he continues to speak.

"Oh Percy? He seems to be getting better since having a talk with Athena." And another brief pause before he continues to speak. "Athena's doing well yeah, but you should come visit her sometime even if she doesn't want to see you Father. She'll forgive you" He still remains outgoing with a happy tone to his voice. 

"I'm not waiting anymore" Yasmine murmurs before crouching ahead of me, opening up the door only to cover her mouth from the scent of rot completely filling the hallways. "It's com-"

"Why'd you come in without knocking? Out-out" Adam hushes her as I step towards him, holding his arm off her. 

"Adam...who were you talking to?" I look over, seeing nothing but Rane's old chair in a cold dark room, spun around to face away from us.

"To Father" He points his thumb behind him casually, "Anyway, I'll be heading off to what's left of our library, from what I hear it seems like Athena left behind some stuff haha" He laughs to himself, closing the doors behind him and encouraging us to walk with him. His face unphased by the appearance of the pack house as rain drips through the ceiling onto the moist carpet, green vines growing up the pillars and that...scent. 

Moments onto our venture deeper into the pack house I feel Yasmine tugging on me, enticing me to look behind me as a creaking sound of an old door fills my ears. The door to Rane's quarters...slowly but surely opening itself, the head of a figure leaning itself to the pressure the door open. A skull with nothing more than remnants of hair, twisting it's neck to face us...

 

Author's Note: Theta was a name I found recently despite knowing the character for years, any guessers as to who that is?