Shattered

Underworld

It had been a couple of days since Annabeth Chase's shroud had been set alight, and still Nico di Angelo felt disheartened. The boy hadn't really known the girl for long, but he had still been saddened by her death nevertheless. She had been part of the party that had saved his sister and him and it a strange sort of way, he felt a sense in guilt that he could not repay her for what she did for him.

Annabeth Chase was dead and Nico di Angelo was never going to see her again.

The camp, on the other hand was taking her death much harder. Although no one said it, Nico sensed Annabeth was a figurative camp leader. To many, she was a sister figure, someone to look up to, just like how he looked up to Bianca in many aspects.

He didn't know what he would've done if he lost her... He suspected the same despair that he had felt floating around would strike him.

For two entire days, the camp seemed to be in complete depression. Every camper paid their respects to the fallen daughter of Athena in their own ways. Classes were paused or silent. The normally loud and light meals turned somber. For the first few days, it had felt the entire camp had seemed to undergo a complete shut down.

Slowly, though, the camp began to return into the regular swing of things. Classes resumed and a certain amount - although limited - of joy returned to the Dining Pavilion.

Malcolm Pace, who was only a few months younger than Annabeth was made the new head counselor of Cabin Six. After Annabeth, he had been the oldest, and was automatically assigned the role.

For Nico himself, his day started off fairly normally. He had been awoken by the large mechanical rooster that nested atop the Hermes cabin. The scratchy caws of the imitation bird awoke nearly every asleep camper in the wooden cabin. Nico's eyes snapped open to meet the forms a dozen other campers stumbling around in slow fits of groans. They - like him - were not morning people. Since Nico was last in seniority, Nico was last to get to use the restroom. By the time he reached the showers, the water was freezing.

Connor and Travis Stoll, the (not-quite) twin leaders of the Hermes cabin led the demigods to the dining pavilion for their breakfast when they finished. Nico had his regular hot chocolate, with a couple slices of buttered toast and rusk (which he dipped in the hot chocolate). After that, everyone hoarded out to their respective classes.

First up, Nico had ancient Greek for an hour and half with Malcolm. He found that he was half decent at the language and Malcolm applauded him with his progress. Even though he had struggled in the beginning he was started to be able to stumble through a few lines of Homer without too much trouble.

He then had Sword Skills.

That's was when things broke away from his predetermined schedule. When he wandered into the armory to pick up a (probably horribly unbalanced) sword, his eyes were drawn to a blade that most definitively hadn't been present the previous day. The blade of the sword was black as a nightmare and truly frightening. The hilt was wrapped in black-stained leather. The sword seemed to be giving off a sinister purple glow.

He seemed strangely attracted to the sword. He reached out to it with his left (dominant) hand.

A hand on his shoulder stopped his motion. Nico whirled around to be met face to face with a tall, African-American dude with a permanent scowl, muscles like a pro ballplayer, and hands like catcher's mitts which were calloused from working in the armory all day: Charles Beckendorf.

"It would be better if you didn't touch that sword, it hasn't been forged by any of my brothers, and it seems to have appeared overnight. There are chances that it might be cursed. It is a very likely probability with the Titans on the rise."