Percy Jackson & The Doom Slayer | The Only Thing They Fear Is You

2; The True Saraphim, and the story of Doom.

We rushed towards The Slayer, pushing past Camper after Camper, to reach him. But try as we might, he still stayed ahead of us, marching with a near religious intent through the camp barrier and down the hill.

We found an open spot in the mass of Campers and rushed through it, coming out on the other side with a clear path to The Slayer. 

"We can't stop him," Annabeth said, panting slightly, "Come on, we have to keep Chiron hidden."

We ran right past the massive Slayer and into the Big House. Closing the door, we saw Chiron and a few Apollo kids tending to some of the more seriously injured Campers, Greek and Roman alike. 

Chiron saw us and started, "Hello you three. We can talk after i'm through-"

"Chiron, you have to get upstairs." I said, walking towards him, panting.

"This.. Thing came during the battle, and it's still here, and we think its gonna come after you!" Jason said breathlessly. He was bending over slightly, hands on his knees. I guess we were all a little worn down by our journey across the world.

Annabeth was about to say something, when with a loud CRACK, Nico came bursting through the door, "Chiron!" He whimpered, Will running in after him, catching him on his shoulder, "He's here. The Doom Slayer is here."

I didn't even have time to wonder how Nico and Chiron would know this guy, and Chiron immediately began to flash, like the gods did, between the centaur and another form, a normal man wearing a red cloak. He seemed to settle on the centaur, and rushed towards the door, "Out of my way, boy!"

Annabeth watched him go, still breathing heavily, and asked, "What was that?" before following him out of the door.

When we got on the porch, what we saw just confused us even more. Chiron had changed into the hooded form. This new Chiron seemed to be floating a few inches off of the ground, and was eye level with The Slayer. We couldn't hear what was being said, but we could see Chiron place his hand on The Slayers shoulder, nodding slightly. Campers had gathered around, and were staring at the interaction. The other seven, excluding Leo, had joined us on the porch of the Big House.

"Who the guy in the hood?" Frank asked, grabbing Hazel's hand.

"Its Chiron." Annabeth said, her voice taking an angry tone.

"What? How-"

"Don't ask. I don't know."

Nico stumbled out of the Big House, still hanging on to Will, "I thought it was dead, Will..."

"Piper turned to him, asking immediately, "What was dead? What do you know?"

Nico looked at us, looked back to Chiron and The Slayers interaction, then moved to sit in one of the lawn chairs on the porch, "Gather 'round, kiddies, grampa's got a story." He laughed, slightly nervously.

We gathered 'round to hear Grampa's story.

Annabeth gave a slight growl as she tore her eyes away from Chiron, leaning on the railing as Nico began to speak. I walked towards her and offered her my hand, but instead she wrapped her arms around me. 

Nico began, "The Doom Slayer is a beast of another dimension. In the seventeen-hundreds, The Slayer appeared on the plains of the Underworld, seemingly out of nowhere. He fought hard, with weapons not known at the time, like the shotguns he carry. He killed, and killed, and killed, nothing could stop him. He tore through every Fury, every hellhound, every harpy, every single creature. That's why you hear so many ghost stories from the eighteen-hundreds, because in the seventeens, souls did everything they could to escape his wrath."

"Thats..." I started, and Jason finished, "...Crazy."

"Thats not all." Nico said.

"Obviously. Why have we never seen him before?" Hazel asked, and Annabeth seemed to hug me tighter.

"Let me tell you," Nico started again, "Eventually, the gods were able to lure him. They wanted him gone, for fear that he might continue his rampage in the mortal world, or in one of their domains. So they lured him into Tartarus."

I felt Annabeth shiver slightly. Or it might have been me.

"Then, in the nineteen thirties, spires began to erupt around Hades' castle, and we got the rest of his story."

"Theres more? After falling into Tartarus?" Will asked.

"Lots. The spires spoke of his brutal, merciless, overwhelming rage. They spoke of him meeting an unknown creature, that the monsters called 'The Seraphim', that bestowed even greater power and ferocity to him. I guess we know who the Seraphim is now." We all looked towards Chiron, who was leading The Slayer towards the dining pavilion, "He was unrelenting. Every monster that stood in his path was destroyed. And since they constantly were reborn, he was able to keep killing for almost three hundred years."

Jason laughed nervously, "Schist."

"Yeah. Schist. More like Shit. This guy was stuck in Tartarus for three hundred years. Anyway, the spires told of a Titan. A champion like no other. We do not know which Titan it is, but my father, Hades, believes, from how its described, that it was the physical manifestation of Tartarus himself."

Annabeth looked at him, "How is that possible? A man his size could never survive an encounter with Tartarus!"

"I don't know, Annabeth. All we know is, he killed him. He slayed Tartarus himself. And thats not all."

Not all?

"He did it before he even got that armor of his."

Woah.

This guy is bad news.

I could see it on everybody's faces; This guy could kill all of us without breaking a sweat.

"Theres still more to the story."

Oh no.

"The Titans seemed to finally have enough of The Doom Slayer's rampage. They devised a plan to capture him. To knock him out, they cleaved a mountain, and dropped it on him. It kept him out just long enough for them to entomb him in a cursed sarcophagus. They buried him in a tomb, deep in the heart of Tartarus. I think it may even have been in Nix's mansion, or whatever she's calling it now. And so, he has been locked in that sarcophagus since at least the nineteen-twenties. The spires spoke of things that may point towards a shattered mental state if he is ever re-awoken. The last sentence the spires spoke where, and I quote, 'There he lies still, and ever more, in silent suffering.'" Nico finished, leaning back in his chair and taking a few breaths.

We heard footsteps behind us, and turned to see Leo on the porch, followed by a woman that Percy had thought he'd never see again, "WHAT THE FU-"