Nico di Angelo, a boy beyond one's powers to understand was trudging through a dusky town at day's end.
No one would think that a teenager like him would go walking around an old town at this hour. You would probably assume that a boy like Nico di Angelo, mysterious and intelligent beyond his years, would spend time at home, thinking about life and what's beyond it, or go out and watch the latest movie hit—alone. Nico di Angelo didn't have any friends.
But no, Nico di Angelo is very different from you and me.
His father gave him a task—a task beyond a normal person's ability.
His father asked him to capture all the lost souls walking on earth, and bring all of them back to the Underworld, where they truly belong. The task was degrading—even for Nico di Angelo. Souls, ghosts and ghouls are worse than living, breathing people—they are more pertinacious, sometimes more powerful.
But there was one more task even more difficult—Nico di Angelo needed to capture the man his father has been searching for more than a hundred years, a man who neither belongs to the world of the living and the world of the dead.
Everyone in the Underworld, have talked about this mystery man once in their—er—lives. They desperately wanted to know how he did it—how he hid from death for all these years.
Hades, the god of the Underworld, also known as Nico di Angelo's father, banned all the souls from talking about this man. It irks him to hear that someone has cheated him, that someone has cheated death once again. And no one can cheat death again, not after what happened with The Son of Athena in the Labyrinth. Hades would never allow it anymore. Hades would use all of his will power just to bring the dead where they truly belong. But why do it when you have a son almost as powerful as you who would do whatever you please? And this was hard—his son was tasked to bring back a man that neither belongs to their world and ours. Hades stated that it's almost impossible to cheat life and death-unless…unless…unless…
Nico di Angelo stopped in front of an old graveyard. It was old, alright. The rusty gate was beat up and bent. The hinges were torn apart from the wind's fury. It was obvious for anyone that no one has visited this ancient graveyard for some time. There were no sign of flowers anywhere, only wilted ones and dead weeds, and there wasn't a trace of lit candles at all. Places like these intrigued Nico, it was dark, misty and creepy-just the way he liked it. He pushed the gate as gentle as he can but CRASH!
Down it went.
Nico flinched but relaxed immediately. Why would he worry about making any noise? He didn't think a family would live in this god-forsaken neighborhood anymore. There weren't any street lights open, and the front yards were brown instead of green, empty instead of having mail and flower boxes.
He walked inside, simply knowing the fact that there were corpses underneath him made him feel more powerful and more in control.
"Souls...souls...where are the lost souls?" He thought to himself. Things like these were usually an ease for him, but this time, the souls seemed to be hidden. He was sure, though, he was sure that there were souls wandering around-but where? Were they hiding? Did they feel his presence? He had to look harder. He closed his eyes, and thought hard: "I command all the lifeless to come to me! I am the Son of Hades, I came to bring you to where you truly belong!" But still, nothing. He thought hard, harder than the day he took his History test. "Please?" He squeaked in his head.
Nico summoned nothing but cold air.
Nothing. Not even a cricket's chirp.
Nico, being easily angered and frustrated, threw a pebble into the darkness. He kicked the ground and stomped angrily. Why didn't his powers work? Why wouldn't they come to him? Why did his father even give him this task when he could do it himself with no effort at all? Millions of thoughts ran through his imaginative mind-Nico di Angelo was over thinking things once again until-OOMF!
The pebble he threw at random, hit his head. It came back like a boomerang. His heart stopped for a second, he wasn't expecting that at all. But he was relieved to finally have interaction with whatever's in the graveyard. "Hello?" He asked out loud, "Are you coming with me to the Underworld or not? Come on." Nico di Angelo was an impatient little thing.
The only reply he got was a soft chuckle of a boy. A boy, not a man, nor a toddler. A boy, right about Nico's age.