Prologue
It was a dark night in an old stone town of Italy. Pitch black, with only a few dim flames from candlelight brightening the sleeping streets. Silence lay thick upon the area, this deep into the night. Then, all of a sudden, a figure clad in black stumbled out of the shadows.
This person was a young teenage boy, who's appearance seemed to be about 14 years of age. Dressed in navy jeans, a T-shirt the shade of coal, and an aviator jacket hauled over his thin frame, he stood sorely out of place within the Italian town. His pale skin almost glowed in the night from the stark contrast between it and the rest of his surroundings. Obsidian black hair fell from his head, slightly too long so that it covered his eyes and face.
Groaning slightly, the boy looked up from where he had lost his footing. And from this position, the strong determination within his inky eyes could be seen, even with his slightly disheveled appearance and thick bags that layered under his eyes. Slight muttering could be heard from the 14-year-old as he pushed back his hair with a bony hand that looked far too malnourished. Even from a glance, you could easily tell that whoever this teenager was, he had been living on the streets.
"Nico di Angelo," a sudden presence less voice called out from the deep silence of midnight. Light could be seen upon an area that had been filled with nothing just moments before. It came from a small café with outdoor seating, and the fresh fragrance of recently brewed coffee could be smelt wafting through the dark. The boy, or Nico, flung his head towards the sound, drawing a stygian iron dagger that had been near unnoticeable, which now clearly visible from a leather scabbard on his hip. A tall figure sat in the sole spot of yellow light from a small lamp hanging on the wall of the café. He wore a beautiful Nyx colored custom-made suit, posh dress shoes, and perfect golden cufflinks as he sipped on his cup of coffee unbothered by Nico's display of violence. Handsome features graced the gentleman's face. Sharp cheekbones, a tall nose, swooping raven black hair.
"Thanatos. What brings you here?" Nico said, his voice reverberating through the quiet of the evening as he recognized the man who had just spoke as the god of death. He lowered his weapon softly, sliding it back into its sheath. It was not every day that Thanatos went through the trouble of revealing himself to someone, and even less of an occurrence that this god would visit Nico's hometown in Italy. This could not be a simple coincidence. Nico suspiciously narrowed his eyes at the ethereal being.
"Son of Hades, Ghost King, Ambassador of Pluto," Thanatos started, listing the teenager's many titles earned through his contributions to wars and hardships in life.
This was definitely not normal, Nico decidedly thought. He waited with an unreadable mask of expression on his face, trying to brace himself for whatever this god may drop upon him.
"If you are willing to accept, or at least hear me out..." continued Thanatos, as he cupped his hands around his coffee as he stared at Nico with a thoughtful look.
Nico waited for him to continue on, but soon the silence stretched on longer than what would've been comfortable. Just as Nico was about to interrupt, Thanatos spoke once again.
"I have a job offer for you," the god suddenly said, clasping his hands as his drink seemingly disappeared into nearby shadows.
"What?" Nico said, after a while of processing the sudden, harmless sounding offer. This was definitely not what the boy had expected, nor could he think of a response to this unanticipated statement.
"I have a job offer for you," Thanatos repeated, sounding surer this time.
"I heard, but... what kind of job...?" Nico replied, a small frown taking place on his usually forlorn face.
"It would be easier to explain if you came to the Underworld with me," Thanatos responded, standing up with a dutiful expression upon his face. Moving soundlessly, Thanatos stepped away from the light of the small café. Advancing into the dark, Thanatos offered his arm to Nico.
Nico stared at the offered limb for a second, before grabbing on. He steeled himself, readying for what he knew was to come next.
A moment later, Thanatos snapped his fingers. Nico could feel the sensation of being pulled away from his previously location at unimaginable speeds. Although having gone through this process hundreds of times, he could never fully get used to the abnormal sensation. A second later, the two had arrived in the grand courtyard of Hades' Underworld castle.
The grand sprawling building had always been impressive, but due to it being a while since Nico had last visited, he had to reprocess the sheer amazingness of this architectural wonder once again.
Reveling in the typical sounds of screaming coming from the Fields of Punishment, the murmurs of newly dead ghosts, and the boom of Hades' judgements, Nico followed Thanatos into the immense building lathered in shadows. The echo of Thanatos' dress shoes and Nico's combat boots could be heard throughout the entrance hall, upon the polished marble floor.
Nico and Thanatos strolled until they finally reached where Hades was, lounging in his throne made of bones. The moment they entered the room, the souls embedded in Hades' shadow black clothing could be felt screaming at them. Nico then kneeled before his father. Only slightly touching the tips of his pale fingers to the ground to keep balance.
"Father," Nico spoke, starting to wonder what sort of job offer Thanatos had wanted to give him, that required the presence of his father Hades.
"Son," Hades spoke back, a contemplating look on his face. "Raise your head. Stand," he proceeded to command, and Nico followed the orders immediately.
Rising from his throne, Hades made way towards Nico, slowly circling around him as Thanatos watched on silently. Nico sent a questioning look in the death god's direction, but the only response was a neutral expression.
Finally, once Hades had made a full circle around Nico, Thanatos came to stand by his side, and Hades opened his mouth.
"Nico. I presume Thanatos has informed you of a job you will be offered?" Hades begun, clearly not looking for an answer. So, the only reaction Nico gave was the slight nod of his head.
"Good. Now we'll explain the nature of this job. You are not obligated to accept; however, I would be very content if you did," Hades looked sternly at Nico, implying that Nico should in fact accept the job. Sighing internally, Nico nodded.
What sort of crazy job must this be for both Thanatos and Father to have to tell me? Nico wondered, preparing himself for what comes next.
"The job we have for you is to become the next Angel of Death. Your job will be to help Thanatos collect escaped souls and work for me when Thanatos is not available. A grim reaper, of the sort," Hades said, catching Nico off guard.
"There was such a job in the Underworld? I didn't know," Nico said, unable to hide his shock. "Why me?"
"Because you have proved yourself again and again through wars and quests you have gone through in the recent year," Thanatos explained, continuing, "You are also a direct descendent of Hades, which would most definitely make this job a lot easier for you than it could be for others."
"But... What about Hazel?" Nico pondered, bringing up his half-sister who was also a child of the underworld.
"She cannot sense souls nor shadow travel, while you conveniently already have these vital abilities Thanatos has." Hades said curtly before looking at Nico straight in the eye.
"Will you accept?"
Nico sighed, knowing that there was only one response to give from the start.
"Yes, my lords. Thank you for giving me the honor to," Nico responded, before taking a deep bow.
"Good. Now remove your shirt," Hades uttered.
"Excuse me?" Nico said, completely caught off guard. He looked frantically at Thanatos, unsure whether he understood what Hades had just said.
"You need to take off your shirt. Grim reapers are bestowed with wings like mine to better complete their jobs and to mark them," Thanatos stated, before releasing some of his glamour to show the humongous, tar-black, feathery wings resting upon his suited back.
Nico gazed at them in awe, this being the first time he had actually seen Thanatos' wings, although he had heard of them plenty of times during his trips to Elysium. Then, it hit him.
"I'm getting wings?"
"Of course, you are. Now come along."
Hades moved his arm across the stale air of the underworld once, before a swooshing noise and sensation could be heard and felt. When Nico opened his eyes, he was in an entirely different room, with virtually nothing except for a singular stone slab in the center of the large circular space.
"Lie down," Thanatos commanded, pointing towards the stone slab.
Nico followed his orders silently, taking his shirt off along the way.
That action revealed Nico's slender frame, in which there were more muscles than expected from his outer appearance, due to the long years of fighting Nico had overcome. Slightly conscious of all the scars marring his pale body, especially his torso, Nico hurried to lay upon the slab. He had many scars from various monster's nails, and burn marks from poison, and simply from fire. There were even some gunshot wounds from bad run ins Nico had had while living on the streets. The only comfort Nico had in this moment was the fact that neither god most likely cared about these past injuries, as long as they did not interfere with what they wanted Nico to do in the moment.
Once Nico had lain down, Thanatos moved next to Nico, plucking two feathers from his own wings. Then, he told Nico "Close your eyes," and Nico did just that.
The next sensation Nico had was excruciating pain. He could feel the dark powers from Hades and Thanatos being absorbed into his back, as the two feathers lay heavily like asphalt just below his shoulder blades.
Nico couldn't help but scream, feeling seconds like centuries in the moment from the sheer amount of power entered his body. But after a while, Nico felt the pain starting to recede. The trickling of the powers started feeling familiar to his body, almost welcoming, due to his previous disposition of being Hades' son.
However, after another brief moment, the horrible pain started once again as Nico felt the feathers starting to enter his skin and connect to his skeleton, forming wings. In his mind, he knew that more feathers were flying off of Thanatos' wings and forming the skeleton of Nico's wings. Nico felt his consciousness start to slip but held on tightly since he still didn't know what was expected of him in this moment.
But then, Nico heard a soft whisper in his mind. Sleep, the voice said, sounding like Thanatos' usual soft murmurs. This will take a while, the voice said once again, and Nico could feel the soft pressure of someone pressing down upon his mind as if trying to make him sleep.
Alright, Nico thought, although unsure whether the message reached Thanatos. Then he let his mind slip into the dark abyss of sleep, temporarily escaping from the pain of growing wings.
.
.
.
Nico's eyes snapped open, and his upper body shot up as adrenaline suddenly rushed through the young demigod's body. He could feel power coursing through him, and the uncomfortable weight of something on his back.
Why...? Nico thought, before starting to remember the previous events he had gone through.
As Nico surveyed his surroundings, he realized that someone had placed him back in his room in Hades' palace, on the huge king size bed which Nico strongly felt unnecessary.
Where was I before this...? Nico thought, before the circular room came to mind.
And I was there because... Nico suddenly remembered everything.
Wings!!!
Running toward his bathroom, Nico slammed the door open and gazed into the mirror. The sight he looked upon was so ethereal, Nico could only smile.
There were two magnificent obsidian wings upon his back, black like the night with only the tips laced with silver. Experimentally, Nico thought to his wings, move. And they responded. The beautiful wings fluttered upon his back, slightly lifting Nico into the air as they pushed down on empty space. Bursting out of his room and running outside, into the currently away Persephone's garden, Nico shot up into the air and for the first time in his life, experienced the wonders of flight.
"Amazing!" Nico exclaimed once he was high above, looking down at The Fields of Asphodel, The Fields of Punishment, Elysium, The Rivers, and all the rest of the underworld.
"Isn't it?" Thanatos suddenly spoke from beside Nico, slightly frightening him.
"Once you've had your fun, come back down to the palace. Your father and I still have some explaining to do about your new job of being the Angel of Death." Thanatos further elaborated, before disappearing. Previous feelings of elatedness having slightly dissipated, Nico sighed and started his descent back to where he could feel the presence of the two gods presently in the underworld.
When Hades and Thanatos saw Nico arrive, the beckoned him over to a heavy wooden door to the side of the throne room, where Nico had only entered once before.
"The weapons room?" he questioned, wondering why the gods had called him there.
"Come," Hades said, before pushing the door open and entering the gloomy space.
And in the center of that room was an object Nico had never seen before. It was a stygian iron scythe, in all its glory, illuminated by a singular spotlight coming from the gap in the ceiling of this room. Laced with silver words in Greek and Latin, Nico looked upon the weapon in astonishment.
"This is your new weapon as an Angel of Death," Hades stated. "You will still be allowed to use your sword and daggers; however, it would be preferred if you didn't them during your time in this job," He concluded.
"Thank you...!" Nico could only say, completely flabbergasted by what amazing things he was obtaining in the short span of a day.
"And Nico," Thanatos started, looking Nico straight in the eye. "To hide your wings, simply move them in this pattern," Thanatos proceeded, then used his own wings to complete a series of complicated movements within the air.
Nico having already memorized the movement tried it out with his own wings. He couldn't feel any change, and upon his back was still the heavy sensation of the wings weighing him down. But looking behind to check whether he had done something wrong, Nico saw nothing on his back.
"...?" Nico thought, not comprehending.
"Your wings are still there. They are only hidden in the form of a tattoo," Thanatos elaborated, before giving Nico a mirror to see the intricate black lines now visible upon his back, forming the image of his wings.
"How does it feel?" Hades questioned, a small look of curiosity present in his eyes.
"Different, but amazing," Nico responded, still in awe with the amazing new body parts he had just gained.
"Great. Well, my job here is now done. Tell me if you need something," Hades said, before disappearing.
It was then just Thanatos and Nico, who was still shirtless.
"Now, put these on and meet me back at the entrance hall," Thanatos said, handing Nico a brand-new Italian made suit, cufflinks with the Latin word for death engraved upon them, and crisp leather dress shoes. The clothes were quite similar to the current dress of Thanatos. Then the god left Nico to himself, exiting the room.
Immediately after changing, Nico headed towards the entrance hall, where Thanatos could be seen waiting. When Nico was about ten steps away, Thanatos held his arm out once again.
"Are you ready?" He asked.
"Of course," Nico responded, grabbing on to his arm, and the two disappeared in a flurry of shadows.