WARNING: Mature themes, cussing, drug use, and sexual content. Read at your own risk baby. ;)

The Bane of Elpis

1

Nico

Three days after Mount Olympus closed it's doors to the outside world, Nico set off for the city Lamia.

Something big was going on, and he needed answers. The last time the Olympians went silent, three years ago... well, that's a long story. But when the gods cut off all contact, even from their half-blood children, it's generally a very bad sign.

While Nico did entertain a few possibilities as to what was going on—maybe a goddess was kidnapped? or perhaps a god's symbol of power was stolen?—he kept coming back to one nagging suspicion, fed by the vague whispers he'd been hearing in the land of the dead.

He really hoped he was wrong.

Nico shadow travelled straight from the Underworld, reaching out with his senses. The power of his father's domain always made jumps easier, extending his range to just about anywhere on the planet, and perhaps even farther. Nico wasn't sure he wanted to find out what was beyond the shadows of Earth, so instead he willed his essence to Greece.

He followed the darkness of the Atlantic Ocean into the darkness of the Mediterranean Sea, slipping past faint pockets of light (which Nico knew were cities) in mere seconds, and zeroed in on the small, soft glow in central Greece that was Lamia. Nico gathered his physical body out of the shadow lands, anchoring himself to the mortal world. The whistling winds and overbearing darkness faded away, and he blinked at his surroundings.

He stood on a faded asphalt street bathed in a soft orange hue from the street lights, the night sky a heavy black blanket above. Dark storefronts, hotels, tiny car dealerships and restaurants lined the red brick sidewalks on either side of the street—all of the buildings were three stories tall or more, all crowded together with narrow alleys between them.

There was no sign of activity on Nico's street besides a couple of cats chasing each other from underneath one parked car to another. He wasn't sure what time it was, though he figured it must've been past midnight. The soft sounds of late night city traffic filled the cool air, and at first Nico decided Lamia was pretty peaceful.

Then he noticed the ghosts.

Though he couldn't exactly see them, he could sense them. Lamia was ancient, filled with thousands of ghosts spanning all the way back to the bronze age—agitated spirits of battles lost and broken hearts, bitter at the cruel nature of gods and men. Some were generals of siege armies, some of them kings, and some peasants. Nico could feel that he was close to his answers. All he needed to do was to find the ghost that had them.

He began searching the streets, slipping into a shadow here and there to speed along the progress. It appeared that most of the city was sleeping. After nearly an hour of wandering he had passed maybe a dozen cars on the road, a few homeless guys and a couple night clubs that looked like they were closing up shop.

Right when Nico was about to give up, he finally found what he was looking for on the outskirts of the city. Huddled between some kind of office building and a garden supply store was a grungy McDonald's that hardly looked open. Thankfully, the buzzing, neon 24-Hour sign on the window said otherwise.

Nico went inside and ordered three bags worth of cheeseburgers, fries, chicken nuggets, and four large Cokes. The bored looking cashier didn't show any sign of interest in what a teenage guy was doing with three bags of McDonalds food at four in the morning, which was definitely for the best. If she knew, she'd hide in the supply closet.

After paying, Nico hiked around the forest of fir and pine trees in the hills at the edge of town, stepping past bushes and boulders. He found a clearing with a nice flat spot of dirt looking over the city. Soon, two skeletons armed with shovels were waist deep in a hole wide enough and long enough to fit a coffin.

Nico perched on a nearby rock, snacking on fries as he watched. He couldn't help but recall one of the last times he had done this ritual. His life had been so different back then.

He had been only twelve years old, hellbent on two things—getting his sister Bianca back from the dead, and getting revenge on Percy Jackson. He often went days without food as he scoured the Labyrinth for Daedalus. He learned to fight monsters on his own. With the guidance of his old, evil mentor Minos, Nico began to learn how to use his powers.

Then came that night on Geryon's farm, after running into Percy and the others. With their help, Nico had summoned the ghost of Bianca. After spending months trying to get her back, watching her appear from the woods and address Percy first, before she had even looked at Nico—it broke his heart. It was strange to remember how much he had hated the son of Poseidon back then. Nowadays, Nico couldn't imagine resenting him for anything.

He loved Percy and his girlfriend Annabeth. Over the last couple years they had become very dear friends to him. The two of them would be finishing up their sophomore years of college in New Rome soon, and Nico found himself hoping they'd visit Camp Half-Blood that summer. He'd never say it aloud of course, but camp wasn't quite the same with out the two of them—with Percy's endless supply of immature jokes and Annabeth's innate ability to find something to do or talk about at any point of the day.

Nico thought about his sister Hazel, who he hoped would be enjoying New Rome with her boyfriend, Frank Zhang the Praetor, along with her vigorous training at Camp Jupiter. He wondered how his friend Reyna was doing, figuring this time of year she and Frank would be spending their days preparing for the summer session. Briefly, Nico envisioned a ridiculous scene of Frank on the first day, flying down as a massive dragon with Reyna riding on his back, her purple cloak billowing in the wind, booming, "Welcome to the Legion, kids."

With a start, Nico realized that he'd missed the first day of Camp Half-Blood's own summer session. He'd been in the Underworld instead, busy interrogating souls for all they were worth and searching for a specific spirit that he knew would have answers. Of course, he hadn't found that spirit, which was why he was thousands of miles from Long Island, sitting on a rock overlooking one of the oldest cities in Greece. Instead of summoning his dinner at the dining pavilion, he was intending on summoning one of the oldest ghosts in the world from one of the last places she had set foot in her mortal life.

Nico wondered if any of his friends at camp had noticed his absence, though he supposed they must've thought it normal for him to arrive on his own time. He found himself hoping that Will had noticed, though he bitterly pushed that thought aside. He reminded himself that he had burnt that bridge long ago.

Nico focused his attention instead on the city of Lamia that spread out before him. The streetlights cast orange light off the sides of the multiple-storied buildings that seemed to all pile on top of each other. Hotels, business centers, hospitals, the occasional ancient temple—all white walls and red roofs going on for miles. Low mountains covered in forest rose up around the city, and faint stars glittered in the dark sky.

Several miles in the east, where the sky was just beginning to brighten, lay what was left of Mount Othrys. The fortress of the Titans in ancient times. If Nico was alive in the old days of the first Titan War, he'd be very far inside enemy territory. These were the lands the Titans called home, which meant that he had to be close.

He glanced at the dark hole as shovels crunched and dirt sprayed. The pale skulls of the skeletons were barely visible. Nico snapped his fingers and the digging stopped. The gravediggers clawed out of the hole and stood at attention before him.

"You are dismissed," Nico said. "Thank you."

They promptly collapsed into a pile of bones and rags, their shovels clattering to the ground. Now comes the fun part, he thought grimly.

Nico stepped to the edge of the coffin shaped hole and gazed around at the city, at the mountains, feeling the cool breeze. He flexed his powers experimentally, reaching out, announcing his presence to all the spirits for several miles. He could feel them, thousands of souls. He felt them turn their attention on him like a weight forming in his head. They were drawn to his power. After all, he was the Ghost King.

Nico popped the lid off his cup and slowly poured out all of his Coke into the hole, murmuring, "Let the dead taste again. Let them rise and take this offering. Let them remember."

The bugs in the woods stopped buzzing. The singing birds went silent. The air grew still and cold. By the time he had finished pouring out the other three cups, he could feel the dead drawing near.

Nico began emptying his bags of food, one at a time, calling to the spirits with his mind at first, then easing into a chant. His words beckoned them closer. As he spoke the Ancient Greek phrases he had memorized since he was eleven, sulfurus mist seeped out of the ground.

Soon, quite a crowd had gathered in front of the hole, which was now a pool bubbling with frothy brown liquid. Thousands of bluish, vaguely human shaped figures had appeared out of the woods. Nico had never seen so many ghosts gathered outside of the Underworld before.

His eyes swept over the restless mob, conveying one clear message: no one drinks unless I say. The ghosts seemed to understand. At least, they didn't all bum rush the pool at once.

Nico paused his chanting. He took a deep breath. He poured power into his next two words, putting all his focus into invoking the spirit's presence with her name.

"Pandora, appear."

For a moment, no ghost came forward. The horde shifted in agitation, but obeyed their lord's command to stay put. Nico waited patiently. He knew that time was different for the dead. Before long, one of the shades drifted to the edge of the pool and knelt to drink. When she lifted her head, Nico nearly caught his breath.

The apparition had assumed the shape of a woman so beautiful that she must have had divine nature. Her olive toned skin contrasted her simple white chiton. Her long dark hair fell around her shoulders and down her back. Nico met her bright blue eyes, and he recognized the uneasiness swimming in them—she was scared of him. He was used to people, ghosts, and monsters alike giving him that look, but seeing it from a spirit with Pandora's reputation was a little unnerving.

Nico realized he was breathing heavily, then remembered that he was standing in the midst of a crowd of ghosts big enough to fill a Drake concert. Some of the spirits were starting to shimmer more brightly. The strength required to hold them at bay was beginning to wear on him.

"Leave us," he commanded with a dismissive wave.

They didn't seem happy about it, but the shades began to fade away until only Nico and Pandora remained in the dark clearing. The weight in Nico's head lessened to a dull headache. He took a moment to catch his breath. There was no sounds except for his soft breathing. Pandora was still on her knees, her eyes low.

"You may rise," Nico said.

"My lord." She stood hesitantly. He noticed that she was bare foot.

"You've been dead over three millennium. Do you remember your life?"

"Yes, my lord—"

"You can forget the formalities," Nico cut in. He decided that she might tell him more if she relaxed a little. "Call me Nico."

Pandora knit her eyebrows. "But... You are not a god?"

Nico was taken off guard.

"Wait—me? A god?" He laughed and shook his head.

Her shoulders sagged in relief. Even after death, she feared the wrath of the gods. He knew her story of course, but he wanted to hear it from her.

"I'm only a demigod, but that's not important. You were saying?"

"Oh... Yes. Yes, of course," Pandora closed her eyes. "My... construction. Each Olympian played a role in creating me."

"The first woman," Nico said carefully. "But why?"

"The Titan Prometheus stole fire from the heavens. He brought it to the earth, a gift to man. Of course, the gods were angry. Zeus brought me down from Olympus, and offered my hand in marriage to Prometheus' brother, Epimetheus."

"But it was a trick."

She lowered her eyes. "Prometheus tried to warn his brother. Once the gift is given, it cannot be taken back. Epimetheus did not listen. He accepted my hand in marriage and took me to his home. With me, I brought another creation of the gods. A pithos—"

She faltered and Nico studied her. He could tell she was struggling with something else, something to do with the strory she was telling, but more recent.

"Go on," he encouraged, his voice soft. "Tell me. What was in the jar?"

"... Every demon that inhabits our world today. Fear. Hunger. Death and sickness. But I was not told this. The gods simply said, 'do not open this pithos.'"

Pandora's fists clenched. "Imagine this, Nico. I am handed this jar as a wedding gift. I am told not to open it, though it is a jar—these are to be opened, no? Well, not this jar, I suppose. I lifted the lid and out came..."

Her ghostly form flickered and shimmered with bright white light. Her face was contorted in anguish. Nico felt very sorry for her, but he needed answers, and he was running out of time. The sky was becoming alarmingly bright, and his legs were shaking. He had to finish this now.

"Pandora."

She didn't answer.

"Pandora, hey!" Nico snapped and pointed his index and middle fingers at his eyes. Immediately, her startled eyes forcefully shot to meet his.

"You closed the lid. You trapped Elpis in the jar. You watched over it for your entire life. Then you died. That's the best anyone could've done," he released his control of her eyes, but she held his gaze. "But I need to know: what happened afterward? I can help, Pandora."

She was silent for another moment, searching Nico's face. He could sense her distress—but also her hope. Finally, she spoke, "My dear husband, Epimetheus... not long ago, he summoned me, as you have. He told me that he would have me back soon. He was promised this, as payment for his services."

"Services?" Nico frowned. "What services?"

"He—He was enlisted to guard what was stolen... the pithos."

At Nico's feet, a skeletal field mouse emerged from the dirt and scampered off. He tried to control is heart rate, his mind racing. Some deity was recruiting Titans, which meant they must have had immense power. This deity must have arranged for a demigod thief to steal Pandora's Pithos, as go the rules of the immortals. Gods can't steal from each other directly. So who was the thief? Even more important, who was the deity?

"Okay," Nico said, gripping the hilt of his sword. "As for—"

Pandora cut in abruptly, "There will be a quest, won't there? You plan on retrieving the pithos."

He blinked. "Uh... Well—"

"Please, Nico," she begged, her eyes desperate, "you are strong, I can see that. You have a hero's soul. Please, you must help me! You must be my champion."

Stunned, he managed, "Champion... For what?"

"My poor, simple husband!" Pandora cried. "He doesn't know what he is doing. He acts out of blind love! Please, you must speak sense to him. Along with his brother, he is a representative of man, not a killer of man. Remind him of his nature!"

Nico clenched his jaw. "You mean, this deity, whoever it is, plans to open the jar. It plans to destroy humankind?"

"Yes! But if you can convince Epimetheus—"

Pandora's form suddenly burst into mist, as if her essence was being sucked away by some unseen vaccum. Nico caught her particles with his mind, resisting the pull. Fog thickened over the pool until she had reformed, gasping, her face stricken with terror.

"She comes! She seeks the source of your power!"

"Who?" Nico demanded.

Pandora's ghostly blue eyes were wild and pleading. "Her servants are here. Nico, please! Be my champion—save my husband!"

Nico barely knew what he was promising, but he said, "Okay, I—I will, but Pandora—"

Before he could ask anything else, she melted into the morning mist. Nico stood there alone in the clearing, a pool of mucky brown liquid at his feet. Golden beams of sunlight had begun to stream in from between the trees. Slowly, sounds of birds and wildlife filled the air again, as if the god of noise had just turned up the volume on the Earth remote. All the vegetation within fifty feet of his shoes had died.

Nico's mind grappled with what he'd just learned. He suddenly didn't want to be standing anymore, but before he could sit down, he heard something that sent a chill down his back. Somewhere under the dark canopy of trees was a soft but very distinct sound—the underbelly of a snake scratching against the ground.

Nico's senses were on high alert. He strained his ears, listening so intently he thought his ears would pop. For a second he only heard insects and birds. Then, he heard the sound again, only multiplied, and getting louder. Her servants are here, Pandora had said. He had hoped he would have more time.

Shapes the size of people flit from tree to tree, but way faster then a human could run. Nico turned to see more movement from behind him—he was surrounded. He got a clear look at one of them, and he didn't like what he saw. Soon, the monsters emerged into the clearing, spear points jutting out at him.

"Ssssson of Hadessss," one of the monsters hissed, "you will be our lunch."

There were nine of them, all young women of different shapes and sizes, all brandishing spears and bronze shields and leather armor, and all snarling at Nico. Besides their flickering forked tongues and unblinking eyes, from the waist up they pretty much passed for human.

However, one glance below the waist shed any doubt that he was only dealing with a group of very angry college girls. Instead of legs, each of the monsters stood on a thick, scaly tail that trailed behind them for several feet, coiling and twisting around them.

Nico stood his ground as the snake women closed in with their spears. He tried to think. At first he had thought he'd been ambushed by dracaenae, but these monsters only had one snake tail each, and they seemed to be longer. He briefly wondered if there was a difference beyond that—if there was, it could be the difference between life and death.

"Wait," he said, struggling to keep from drawing his sword. "What are you?"

The monsters glanced around at each other. They seemed confused as to why Nico wasn't shaking in fear or fighting back or something other than just standing still and asking questions. They were pretty scary monsters, he had to admit, but he'd been fighting monsters for six years. He'd been to Tartarus. These snakes might be dangerous, but Nico wasn't afraid.

"Foolish demigod," sneered the one of the lamiai in the front. "We are the lamiai, children of the great Lamia!"

"Lamia?" He vaguely remembered that name. She was a sorceress like Medea and Circe, but that's about all he knew. "Did she send you?"

The same snake woman hissed in rapid fire, and a few of the others joined in—some kind of snake laugh? "Why do you care? You're our lunch, remember?"

The lamiai lunged with their spears, but Nico wasn't there anymore. He sprang through the shadows and in a single motion, drew his blade—three feet of wicked sharp Stygian iron—and sliced through the back of the lamiai he had just been in front of a second ago. She exploded into golden dust before she even realized she had stabbed air.

By the time the others knew what had happened, he had already cut down another snake to his right. The rest turned to him in outrage, their every movement lightning fast, but Nico was a demigod—he was born for combat.

An iron spearhead stabbed at his face and he jerked his head to the left, then parried a low slash from his right. Stepping back to evade two more strikes, he swung his black sword in a wide arc. One of the lamiai was vaporized. The rest leaned away, their snake bodies writhing around them. They fanned out, trying to surround him again.

Nico knew he had to shake things up, and he figured he was far enough from the city that he literally could do just that. He crouched into a low defensive stance and he dug deep, feeling the solidness of the dirt and rocks under his feet. The lamiai tensed to strike, and Nico yelled.

The ground shook, and with a mighty crack! the earth split. A ravine ripped open between his legs, dirt spilling into open air, and Nico stepped to one side. A lamiai slipped into the abyss with a surprised hiss. He imagined the land on the other side rising like an elevator. With a sound like a million garbage disposals, the earth exploded upwards. One of the monsters was tossed into the air.

Through a shower of dirt and pebbles, two of the monsters pushed for him, thrusting with their spears. Nico spun between them, cutting one of their spears in half, then stabbed the other one under her shield in the scaly snake abdomen. Her friend with the broken spear was very fast. Her thick tail lashed and wrapped around his sword arm. The rest of her body moved to envelope him. He quickly let go of his sword and lunged for it with his left hand just as the snake woman's talons dug into his back and chest. She pulled him to her, and he carved his sword across her body. Nico hit the ground as the lamiai's form collapsed into the dirt with a dying hiss.

The next instant, the snake that had been tossed into the air came slithering full speed at Nico. He tried to cut her down but she dodged and latched onto his shoulders with her claws. Her jaw unhinged, and rows of razor sharp teeth flashed as she tried to bite his head off. He slammed her face with the butt of his sword, and she stumbled to the edge of gorge.

Before Nico could finish her, the other two lamiai slid down the ten foot cliff of gravel and tree roots, leaped the gap, and regrouped with their sister. With their backs turned to the ravine, the three of them tried to hold him off, but their advantage of numbers was no longer in play.

Nico ducked as the snake on the right slashed her spear. He kicked her shield with the flat of his shoe, sending her sprawling. At the same time he parried the left lamiai's spear thrust, swinging his sword wide to ward off the snake in the middle. The right lamiai wailed as she slipped off edge, and then she was gone. The weaponless lamiai in the middle launched herself at him again, but he rolled under her and came up slashing at the left snake lady's head. Her writhing body crumbled as the last of the lamiai turned to face Nico.

She didn't look very confident now that all her friends had been reduced to dust and armor on the ground, but still she managed a snarl. He advanced with his sword.

"You think you've won?" The lamiai's snake body coiled underneath her. "Thissss isss only the beginning, you fool! Asss we ssspeak, our Mother locatesss the bane of Elpisss. He shall be ourssss!"

Nico hesitated. "He? Who—"

The snake woman sprang at him desperately, talons outstretched. Instinct took over. His dark sword flashed, and she burst into monster dust.

Again Nico found himself standing alone in the clearing. His body was shaking in exhaustion. He panted as he took in the carnage that he had unleashed. Trees had crashed to the ground. Golden dust caked the dirt. A gaping twenty foot gash in the ground separated him from the jagged hill that had erupted into place.

As his adrenaline wore off, he began to feel his wounds from the fight. His shoulders stung. His back and chest felt like he'd been shish kabobbed. His vision grew hazy and dark, and he knew he was passing out. He had used too much energy on the ritual and the battle. Nico lost the feeling in his legs, and felt his body hit the ground without really feeling it. Soon, he felt nothing, and saw nothing.

So, that's the first chapter. Next up will be Lou Ellen, who also has an important role to play. Anyway, please let me know what u guys think. new chapter should be up in a week or so.