Zoe's POV
I entered the labyrinth with Atem on my back, I felt a cold liquid on my back where Atem's wounds should be. I trudged through plenty of turns and twists from the labyrinth before I found a place where I thought we would be safest, which would be a blessing in this hell. I placed Atem on a wall and began to check his wounds.
I open his shirt to see the wound open and leaking. It was like someone took a buzzsaw and drove it into a human. Blood and flesh coated as it flowed into the ground. I panic and grab all the bandages and place them on the wound trying to stop the bleeding. I kept this constant feeling of panic while I tried to stop my best friend from bleeding out.
Best friend? Is that what Atem is? I feel... safe around him. There's this aura around him that seems to make others shiver in fear or admiration, but I find comfort in it. Ever since he saved me from my father, and since my vow vanished, I have been more relaxed around Atem. Trust, that's the word.
I've grown to trust Atem. When me and my hunters went to the manticore and he was there I couldn't shake the feeling that I had from 2000 years ago. I felt admiration for a man. No he isn't just ANY man.
He sacrificed himself for Bianca. I believed that all males wouldn't sacrifice themselves even if it was their family on the line. He's strong, unbelievably strong. No mere mortal, or any god should be able to accomplish what he's done.
He completed countless feats that are impossible, he fights not for himself, but to get revenge on his friend's killer. That level of loyalty… Is it loyalty?
He's shown feats of strength equal to the gods, and that hat that always seems to show up when he wants, it holds divine power that I am not knowledgeable about.
It is like the sun, but more ancient. It's as if many gods were in mind when it was created. But that couldn't have been possible. The gods aren't generous like that.
Especially when someone like Atem holds this much power. Its feel is ancient, yet mysterious. Like I swear I remember the feeling yet I can't place my finger on it.
That power that he possesses, is nothing like I have ever seen. He could summon monstrous fire that seemed to burn anything that Atem wishes to leave to ash.
His power over the very air itself is also immense. He could cause hurricanes with a thought. Creating shapes of air would be easy for him. And I could not put it past him that he most likely could crush people with the very air that they breathe.
And he just brushes it off like it wasn't much. Like it was as simple as throwing a rock at someone's forehead, or like shooting an arrow. He broke the titan's curse. He willed the sky to stop its constant search for the embrace of the earth. He fought Gea's hold on the earth and prevented the collapse of the mountain of despair.
He prevented the death of thousands, and saved me. I can feel that he isn't at his strongest, and I shiver imagining what would be his peak.
I want to see how much he's willing to grow. I want to be by his side as he grows. So I cannot let him die in this labyrinth of death that has claimed countless souls. I cannot allow him to become one of the many heroes who die in this horror shop.
Shifting my focus back to Atem, I completely remove his shirt and stuff it into the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. It seemed like a herc- impossible task. Who could fix a gaping hole the size of a basketball in one's side.
What could I do? I was a failure, an idiot that brought a person who had no prior clue about the Greek world. If it wasn't for the wars then I would have no longer been the lieutenant. Lady Artemis would have seen clearly and removed me from the position.
Now I am here, trying to save Atem from death's embrace in the labyrinth, the very thing that is made to kill. What could I even do? There barely any bandages left nor any first aid. And I am in the labyrinth.
Gods, Atem please stay with me. His face was so pale, the floor I set him on was now blooded. It would be a challenge to find a place where his blood didn't paint the floor.
The echoes of my cries were small but I felt like it traveled through the labyrinth. I could imagine that it was like a dinner bell for the hundreds of monsters that scoured in the labyrinth.
I covered my eyes with my hands and I began to sob uncontrollably. Bianca died because of me, now Atem is going to die and there's nothing I can do.
I am useless. The cold air of the labyrinth washed over my body harshly. I opened my eyes and I saw Atem, I had to do anything I could to save him.
I gathered myself before picking up Atem and began to traverse the labyrinth in hopes of finding a way out. Or possibly finding a way to heal Atem.
The cold liquid of his blood rained on my body like a storm in the night. I knew anyone else with this type of injury would die almost always. A gaping hole in one's side that revealed the guts and gore of the human body. But Atem wasn't normal.
Atem was a different breed. He shown feats of power that rival, and sometimes overshadows some of the gods feats. No one ever had lifted the sky. No one had managed to kill the Nemean lion with the shockwaves from his punches, not even Heracles.
He's like the perfect fusion of monster, god, and human. But why did he let others take the front seat? He seemly just followed Percy and Thaila. Was his hate for Luke enough for him to let another take the shine as a hero in order to win against him?
He seemed so simple, yet his actions don't represent his.... Everything. He talks the exact opposite of one whose actions were for revenge.
I turned a corner of the Labyrinth and had to quickly duck to avoid being cut into two by an axe. The labyrinth only had one goal, that was to hide its creator. And it would do anything to make sure no one finds him.
The only way to travel through the labyrinth well was either to have the assistance of a clear sighted mortal or the string. But I didn't have any of those at my disposal.
I was just a rejected huntress who didn't change over the 2000 some years she lived. And a hero who was on his death bed. All because of my failure to change, failure to adapt.
"Thud"
I stop in my tracks and look around while Atem lays limp on my back. My inner monologue stops as the only thing my mind is set on is the monster nearby. The cold feeling of the depths of the Labrinth surrounds me like an eerie death accompted by the horrors.
The feeling I was gathering was making my senses go into overdrive, as everyone of my nerves screamed at me to run. It was something I never had felt before, no monster had ever given me this feeling.
Not even when Lady Artemis changed. It was an unknown danger, but it should have shown itself now. Atem probably smell's like a buffet, and since he is unable ti defend himself, it is my duty to protect him.
I needed to defeat this monster and get out of the labyrinth, it is like California but condensed into one maze. I could possibly find refuge there but it could be risky if they find out Atem's heritage.
And it could possibly lead to an all out war between them two. And while Kronos rises, we cannot afford to have a war.
Iris messaging is also a blur here so another way to get help is out. But I think I have to risk it to sa-
Jumping back I narrowly avoiding a claw that seemed to appear out of nowhere. It was like the Annabeth girl's hat, possibly. Or it might be something else.
I place Atem on the ground while looking around for the unknown monster that lurked in the depths of darkness. My celestial bronze dagger shined just enough to see 1 foot Infront of me.
I suddenly found myself falling as something crashed into me. My dagger flew out of my hand and I landed 6 feet away from where I placed Atem, my dagger laid away from me, as my ribs burned.
They were probably broken, but the monster still stood hiding in the darkness.