The Guardian of the Underworld

Chapter 15: Nico

After he spoke, Mrs. O'Leary jumped up and into a shadow, nearly missing a tree. The feeling was just as Nico remembered it. As if you were evaporating into the shadows or melting into the trees. It was like becoming the darkness. 

With a thud, they landed on the ground again but were enveloped with hissing sound of dead souls and monsters far away from them. Monsters that shouldn't have been there at all.  

"Gods and Titans, if Tartarus has stopped working..." Will muttered and stopped mid sentence. So, Nico wasn't the only one hearing things. How reassuring. 

The three boys hopped off the hellhound and Nico began to lead them to his father's palace. "If I remember correctly from last time I came, he should be somewhere around here."

When they reached the spot Nico had been leading them to, he glanced up at the building and back at Nico with a concerned look. His father never needed to see him, so this 'urgent' matter must've really been important to him. The look on Nico's face changed from concerned to determined. He had always felt like her needed to prove himself to his father, and maybe now would be that time. Maybe he'd finally realize how much Nico had put into to trying to impress him.

As they entered inside, the first thing they saw was Hades. He was standing directly in front of them causing no need for them to go any further. "Nico," his voice echoed throughout the walls and bounced back with a booming sound as he addressed him. "Will, Frank." He didn't say anything for a while after that. Staring down at them with his eyes narrowed, he motioned for them to follow him.

"There have been some issues with the door to the living lately." He continued walking with his arms behind his back and his hands folded together. "I'm afraid something has stopped it from working. We need you," he stopped moving ahead and turned to look at the boys again. "To find a way to stop whatever it is. I can't do much to help you, but I'm counting on you."

The words were like a nightmare but also a praise to Nico. He needed them, just as he'd always hoped for, but there was also something letting the dead back out into the world and that's what they were needed for. Great. 

Frank seemed slightly amused by everything. He didn't seem to mind that they were standing in front of a God, but was more wrapped up in everything around him. He was looking at all the souls still roaming around and the darkness that seemed to make an endless pit all around them.

Hades spoke again but more directly to Nico at first. "There will be a battle. I have a place where you can fight. I can't say much more about it." 

He then turned to Will and gave him a slight nod. "You will need to be prepared to heal the others. There will be many injuries and they will all be dependent on you." 

Lastly, he looked at Frank with a mirror reflection on the boy. "You need to be careful. They will want you, and you can't let them get it. There's a reason your energy has been dwindling down. They're trying to take your life force and use it as your own. Every time they let a newly dead back out, it takes a part of you with." Hades sighed and looked out above them all. "There will be grave loss tonight. Loss that I can only hope to save. Perhaps I will be able to do something with it, but only time will tell."

Nico was caught off guard at the task and looked up at his father. "Who are 'they?'"

The God looked back down at him and frowned. "I'm sorry, my boy. I've already said too much about it. Any more and Zeus will have my head."

He slowly started walking back to the center of the room and stopped abruptly to speak again. "And there's something you all must see when the others get here."