Gab's PoV

Everything was going well until Lethe forgot what we were doing here again.

We had passed through most of the army of monsters unseen and forgotten when a dracaena slithered right into the goddess and knocked her over, making her lose her concentration and any memory she had of what we were doing. Instantly, the monsters around us shrieked and fought over each other to get to us first. We all stood back to back with weapons at the ready while Lethe mumbled something about what am I doing here under her breath. Then a loud, rumbling voice like a vacuum cleaner resonated above the clamor of monsters. "Ah, look who has come at last. Let them through, let them through." Tartarus sounded like he was in an extremely good mood. That didn't really sit well with me.

The monsters stopped fighting to get to us and grudgingly made a path to the void where a humanoid figure standing at about ten feet tall with a swirling black hole for a face stood in front of it. Off to the side of him was a cage made out of the void's darkness with a man that looked a lot like Nico sitting, looking bored, inside the cage and an unconsious boy with blonde hair laying down next to him. Just as it was in my dream, Will hadn't managed to jump into the void.

"Will! Dad!" Nico ran to the cage and dropped on his knees to try and reach Will better.

"Nico, you shouldn't have come down here! There is no reason for you to-" Hades began, but Tartarus cut him off.

"Oh, but there was plenty of reason wasn't there Nico? You see, if it weren't for Will here, you needen' t have come at all."

Nico turned around with the scariest expression I have ever seen. It made me eternally grateful I was on his side. "If you're talking about that stupid jar Annie saw-"

"That's exactly what I'm talking about," Tartarus said with a laugh. "He could have let me destroy the gods that way, but no. He forced me to use another way. I will rise up and destroy the gods. My little rift here has almost broken through to the Underworld. Not even Ari's necklace with her extra power can stop the inevitable, nor Will's persistent idea that by sacrificing himself he can close the rift."

"How did you even make the rift anyway? That's the part I still don't get." I said. If I could take Tartarus's attention off of Nico, he might be able to find a way to free Hades and revive Will.

"Oh that was easy. Do you know what happens when you destroy a gateway to another realm?" Tartarus asked in amusement.

I looked over at the others in confusion. I had no recollection of that even happening in any of the myths I've ever read. Maybe it was in one I haven't read yet? By the looks of it, Annie and Nelson didn't know either. Bob and Damasan, however, stood staring at Tartarus with stony faces. I looked back over to him to reply when it suddenly hit me. A gateway to another realm. The Doors of Death was a way to get from Tartarus to the world above. We had been planning on using it after we closed the rift, but I hadn't seen it here. Unless...

I felt sick to my stomach. "D-don't tell me that that," I gestured to the void behind him, "is the Doors." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nico spinning around to look from the rift to Tartarus in horror.

Tartarus laughed again. "Very good. The Doors have indeed been destroyed, though I had hoped the process of forcing the rift into the world above would have gone faster, but no matter. It'll be done soon enough."

The rift began to vibrate, and it grew a little larger. For a moment, there was a crack of grayish light that I was sure came from the Underworld. A few souls were sucked into the void and disappeared before the crack closed again, but I could tell it was getting weaker.

"Nico? What-"

We all spun around to see Will sitting up and rubbing his head. He looked around and glared at Tartarus.

Before he could say anything, Tartarus said, "Will's awake! Even better. How about we let him out and let him go for a walk, hmm?" Will disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the army. "Kill them." Tartarus ordered.

"No!"

I didn't even see Nico pull out his sword before he started attacking the monsters. The rest of us charged into the horde, and I lost track of everyone from there. Monster after monster lunged at me, and it was all I could do to dodge, roll, attack, and repeat. It wasn't long until I was covered in sweat and monster dust. One second, I was fighting next to Bob, the next, I was blocking a spear from impaling Nelson. Suddenly, a shrill scream pierced the air, and I finally looked up to see what was going on with everyone else.

Hades was shaking the bars of his cage and yelling at Tartarus to let him out. Nico was fighting like a demon through a large mass of monsters to where Will was. Will had obviously tried to fight, but something knocked him out again. Bob was surrounded. On the opposite side of the battle from Bob was Damasan who was also surrounded. Directly in front of me was the source of the scream. Annie had taken one of Nelson's swords and was fighting while trying to drag his limp body out of harms way.

I gulped and slowly turned around to see I was standing directly in front of the void. You don't recognize me do you? You'll understand soon enough. For this to end, we have to do this. You must let us if you want your friends to survive.

"Please," I whispered. "Whoever you are, help us."

With a flash of silver light, the monsters dissolved to ashes, Tartarus stumbled back, the cage Hades was trapped in disappeared, and six figures appeared right in front of the void.

"Nico."

Aaaaaaand I'm going to leave it there tonight. Muahahahaha. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Have a good day or night!