"Come on, guy's," Percy called out against the winds. "Suck it up, and keep going!"

Percy was in the lead, making his way slowly down the ruins of the Icefall. Jason was right behind him, supporting Aaron as they both followed Percy, while struggling against the never ending wind. I was there shivering from the cold from far behind the others. 

Jason noticed this. He looked behind and saw me struggling to move. He yelled, "Come on, Nico! This is the last obstacle of Everest - we're almost there to camp!"

I nodded and trudged forward. It didn't stop the cold though, so I wrapped my arms tightly around me. 

Percy started to go over a ledge after making sure he ploughed his axe into the ice. He started making his way down, smashing his spiked boots deeply into the icy face while climbing down. Jason then went after him, while Aaron hung on to his back. Jason looked exhausted but he continued anyways.

I looked behind, somehow thinking that someone was watching us. I knew Everest was after us, but a fall like he just had from the Summit would've knocked him out for days. However, he was a mountain spirit and they were very hard to kill - according to legend, mountain spirits were the descendants of the Primordial Ourea, lord of mountains. Knowing that Everest was one of the oldest mountain spirits, he would've passed off as a child of that Primordial.

I just hope we don't run into Everest again...now that he lost his only chance of claiming the Bolt, he would be after us for revenge. I hope we go faster...

"Over there!" Aaron said, pointing down the Icefall. "I can see it! It's just down there!"

From his position, I could see Base Camp from here - even though the sun was not visible in the sky, the colours from the sunset made things clear for me to see. Percy stood to my right with Jason and Aaron, where they squinted to see the Base Camp. 

"We're probably another four thousand feet above the Camp," Jason panted, his breath steaming against the sheer cold of the air. "We just need to get lower. But man, I'm really stuffed."

"Hey, hey," Percy said. "We're not stopping now - we're almost there. C'mon, just a couple more hours and we're back."

"Percy's right, mate," Aaron said. He looked slightly better now that he had some water in his system. His cheek was patched up, so it looked as if he didn't have frostbite. "We're not far - just a couple more hours."

"From what?"

That voice! Not again! We all turned around slowly to see Everest (or as we came to call him "Hillary").

He looked a mess. His hair looked as if it had been ripped out; patches of his skin were shredded and one of his eyes were bruised and closed. His whole body was rigid as if he's broken a lot of his body bones. The murderous glare in his good eye though was enough to make me cringe.

"You," he snarled. "I swear to all the gods above, you are so dead!"

"Impossible," Percy muttered. "A fall like that should've killed you. I saw you fall!"

Everest chuckled, his whole body shaking from the laughter. "If you thought that, then you're more stupid than I thought. I AM THE MOUNTAIN ITSELF - I'm eternal here. I'm the god of my own mountain. It would take a lot of strength to defeat me, the Lord of Everest and son of Ourea!"

I drew my nightmare sword and held it out agains the mountain spirit. "We beated you once - we can do so again. You've lost your chance - the Bolt is back at Olympus, where it belongs. You failed."

Jason brought out his sword, which sparked with live energy. "We're giving you one chance - either die fighting us, or leave us and never us bother again. Your choice."

Percy didn't bring his sword out but he did give give Everest his famous wolf stare. "Don't make us kill you you Everest. You don't want to mess with us."

Everest sneered. "Oh no, my dear boy. It's YOU who shouldn't have messed with ME!"

Next thing I knew, he shot his hand upwards and the winds just rammed into us, causing us to lose our balance. Then Everest stomped his foot into the snow and the snow erupted in front of us, blasting us off the edge. We landed hard in the snow, but tumbled forward off the next ledge.

We continued to plummet down the Icefall, crashing into boulders and rocks. I couldn't even tell where we were going - it was all just a blur, rocks coming and going as I ploughed into the ice, bringing down cloumns of the Icefall. It was like we were playing a painful version of Jenga. I saw Percy out of the corner of my eye and watched as he smashed through a think boulder of ice - debris went everywhere as he rolled and tumbled at a dangerous speed.

Jason was having trouble trying to stop as well. As I watched, he crashed head first into a massive sheet of ice and continued tumbling downwards. Aaron...well, let's just say two incidents on the Icefall would've made him mad, but damn - the speed he was going at, I'm surprised that he hadn't knocked himself out.

Before I blacked out from the pain of crashing into ice continuously, I came to a stop and I lay there face down in the snow.

I groaned as I got to my feet. Jason tried getting up, but like Aaron he just fell on his back.

Percy just did a Chinese getup, but when he got to his feet even he was disorientated - he swayed on his feet for a moment, but shook his head clearing his dizziness. 

We must've fallen down a thousand feet or so - the camp looked closer than before and Icefall definitely looked taller to me. The wind lessened as the Icefall sort of protected us from the howling winds, as if every wind spirit there was on the mountain were ganging up on us, helping Everest in some way.

Percy brought out his sword, the blade flaring like a blue lightsaber and humming like one as well. He swung it back and forth, like he was mentally preparing himself for the fight against Everest. As expected, Everest jumped off the ledge and landed right in front of us, bringing out his sword as well.

"You might've outsmarted Tartarus, and you may have defeated Gaia," he told the son of Poseidon, "but let's see how you'll deal with the offspring of Ourea! There won't be any let up from me!"

He charged at Percy and swung his sword downwards. Percy deflected the blow and rolled to one side. I watched, mezmorised as Percy fought Everest - the speed he was going at shocked me. He swung Riptide back and forth and the blade just rang out against Everest's jaggged ice sword. 

"Guy's, get out of here!" Percy shouted. He slashed his sword sideways, but Everest just slashed back and the two swords clashed together.

I looked at the path and I saw that it was the same chasm we crossed over that made Percy have flashbacks of Tartarus. The ladder was long gone, having fallen into the depths of the crivace - so how in Hades name were we gonna get across?

"Jason, fly me and Aaron over to the other side," I said.

Jason looked at me, his face drained of energy. "Can't...too tired...might drop you."

"Just do it!" Aaron screamed. "Percy can't hold off Everest for long - he's too strong!"

Jason looked at the chasm and wearily nodded. "Hold on."

He lifted himself off the ground and manipulated the wind to pick us up as well. We shot straight over the chasm, but Jason lost control of his projectory and we crumbled into the snow again. I groaned as I struggled to get up. I looked back at the other side of the chasm.

I couldn't believe it - they were still fighting. Percy's sword flashed as he rolled back and forth, trying to get the upper hand but Everest's fury was endless. I've never seen a mountain spirit like this lose his temper this much. Obviously losing the Master Bolt was a huge blow to him and he wanted revenge. As I watched, his sword slashed at Percy's face, but the son of Poseidon wasn't done yet. The blade missed him as he leaned backwards, which some demigods back home think of it as expert training. He vaulted upwards and bashed Everest in the head, making the mountain spirit grunt and hold his head in pain.

Percy started to run towards the chasm shouting, "GET OUT OF HERE!" but obviously Everest wasn't done either. He threw a sharp piece of ice and the shard pierced through Percy's left leg. Percy screamed and fell on his stomach.

"Percy!" Jason bellowed. "Watch out!"

Everest came running to Percy with his sword over his head, ready to bring it down on Percy's back, but the hero of Olympus rolled onto his back and brought Riptide upwards, blocking Everest's attack.

Now that I could see his face clearly, I noticed that Percy was bruised all to hell. His left leg was bleeding, the colour of crimson against the snow. He had a black eye and even though the bone was healed, his left arm looked bent. He was clearly exhausted.

"You will die Jackson," Everest snarled. He looked worse than Percy - he had a slash on his face that bled ichor and his back was hunched over like Percy broke something.

Percy looked at me. The look in his eyes were clear - it was a look that I knew all too well. It was a look that clearly said, "I'm sorry."

"Percy, no..." I started to shout, knowing what he was going to do. But either he heard me or didn't, it didn't matter. I watched him grab hold of Everest's collar and rolled backwards, making him and Everest go over the ledge. But at the last moment, Percy stabbed his axe into the chasm's icy face and hung there, with Everest holding on to his legs for dear life.

Everest was shocked at what just happened. He looked down at the chasm and yelped as he saw how deep the whole thing was. He gripped Percy's legs tighter, making Percy yell as the mountain spirit gripped the wound on his leg.

"Percy!" Jason yelled, running to the ledge. Percy just shook his head.

"Jason, get everyone out of here," Percy called. "I'll deal with Everest. I'll find a way out of this."

"Percy, what if you don't make it out?" I shouted. "What if this leads to Tartarus?"

Percy paled at the mention of Tartarus, but he seemed to steel his nerves. "If I don't make it, tell Annabeth I love her."

"Percy NOOOOOO!" all of us shouted.

Too late - Percy let go of his axe and he - along with Everest who screamed in terror - fell into the chasm and was engulfed by darkness.