Nico's unexpected encounters

Icky slime

Sorry. I forgot to put a pic in. Here it is.

At the moment, Nico was tired. He has just returned from a mission his father had sent him on and now all he wanted to do was sleep. His limbs felt heavy and he was starting to feel a headache coming on.

His mission wasn't that hard. All he had to do was collect some lost soals in England. But, even with Hade's blessing, he still felt like falling into the land of dreams right then and there. He would have it too... If he wasn't standing in the streets of New York.

Today was the anniversary of  Bianca's death. Normally Nico would spend this day alone in a cemetery where no one would see his grief.

So, why was he standing in front of Percy's apartment? Two words, Sally Jackson. Sally had become a second mother to Nico. She would often find some way to contact him. This time she was even able to IM him. How she was able to do that as a mortal, he would never know. Nico suspected that Percy had a little something to do with Sally knowing the exact day Bianca had died on. That was probably why she invited him over today of all days. At first, he was hesitant to accept her offer but something told him it was a good idea. So now he was here.

He began to raise his hand to knock on the door when a quiet fizzling came to his attention. He looked down to see sparks zipping across the ground in front of him. The sparks flew so fast, he barely had time to register that they were circling him. In two seconds, the circle was complete and a hole opened up into swirling darkness.

Nico struggled to grab onto anything before it could suck him up. His arms lashed out for the door, the fence, heck, even the grass, but he was already too late. Nico fell. The sparks closed the spot where he was standing only moments before. The inky black hole had swallowed up the son of Hades.

The darkness almost felt... Slimy. Why does this always happen to me? Couldn't it just have been a simple monster for once? Maybe I could try... ouch! Nope. Shadow traveling certainly doesn't work in here.

I could feel my body being transported somewhere far. The darkness pulled me through its harsh currents. I tried to struggle. Keyword 'tried'. The more I moved the tighter the slime wrapped around my pale body.

Why was the darkness fighting me? I'm the son of hades for gods sake! "Let m-!" I garbled. But had to close my mouth. The gooey bonds had almost flooded into my mouth. Ick, I did not want to know what the stuff tasted like.

As quickly as I had been sucked in, I was spat out. I landed on a cold stone floor and instantly shot to my feet and began scanning the dim-lit room I had arrived in. I was standing on some sort of magic rune circle and was surrounded by lit candles. Directly in front of me was a hooded figure kneeling on the ground.

I went for my hand and twisted my skull ring. My sword shortly solidified in my hand.

"Where am I?" I demanded.

The hooded figure turned his kneeling into a bow. "Forgive me, Lord, for my intrusion."

I raised an eyebrow. "Lord?"

"Yes. Do you wish me to call you by another name, Lord?"

"Depends. Where am I and who are you?"

The figure stood up and tossed his hood down. He wasn't a monster so I guess that counted as something. But my gut told me to be wary. Maybe it was something about his eyes. Nevertheless, trusting your gut was usually a good thing when it came to being a demigod.

"My name is Modeus Larkin and you, Lord, are in one of the last surviving temples of Hades. I have summoned you here to assist me with my enemies."

"And what makes you think I will help you. My schedule is full today and I don't like being summoned against my will, " I scowled. Today of all days. I just wanted some peace. I have no doubt that the fates had something to do with this little meeting.

"Ah, I see. I was afraid you might say something along those lines. And that is why I have prepared, " He smirked. "As you can see, you are standing in a summoning circle, but I have also added some barrier runes. You can't step out of the circle nor can you hurt me. If you don't believe me, try it for yourself."

Scowling, I raised my arm and moved it past the circle. As soon as I touched the invisible air border, an electric bolt exploded down my arm and into my chest. I fell to one knee and used my sword as a support. This Modeus guy was sneaky. I'll give him that. Not that I'd ever admit it.

"You see. If you try to escape then the results are not pleasant." I glared at him.

He took a step back. Good. At least I know I can still intimate him.

Shadows littered the walls and I know I could jump into them from where I'm at and still be in the circle but, I wasn't sure it would work. Plus, I'd rather keep my cards close. I still had my bag with everyone a demigod needs on my back so I should be able to IM someone later.

I stood up. "So what? I'm trapped in a small space. It's not like I haven't survived this kind of situation before. If I can't get out, then you can't get in," I spun my sword casually. "I Don't necessarily think you would want to anyway."

He glanced at my sword. "You make a good argument lord, but I predicted something like this would happen and prepared appropriately." he moved his arm so that I could see his hand.

On his palm was the Greek word "έλεγχος" meaning "control" and below that was a skull with a sword running through it. The new symbol that Hades assigned Nico when he gave him his blessing.

He cursed under his breath. This wasn't good. How was he supposed to know that by receiving a symbol, it could be used against him? How did this mortal even know about it or Nico himself? Maybe it was a stupid prophecy. They always seemed to ruin his life.

"By your reaction, I take it you know what this means. I have imbued magic into my hand to allow me to use this image to my advantage." He balled his hand into a fist and a searing pain filled my head. My sword clanked to the floor and I clenched my head in agony.

He held his fist for a few more moments before relaxing and putting it back into the feds of his robe. "you see. You have to follow my orders. Otherwise..." He shrugged. " I might not take it as easy on you as I did this time." The throbbing began to dwindle as I looked up into his glistening blue eyes.

I glared with hate. This was not over. Not by a long shot.

My fatal flaw was holding a grudge, and I Don't care if I die or not. This Modeus Larkin guy would not get the best of The Ghost King.

Sorry this was late.❤️