Epistrèfo
Chapter I: Gènnisi
Nico remembers pain.
He remembers screaming, and blood, and the feeling he has when someone dies.
He remembers the ones who call him their friend.
And he remembers looking at the son of Jupiter, tears streaming down his face, and thinking, This is not his time to die.
Nico bows before his father, and he chooses rebirth.
Nico di Angelo dies.
A hellhound pup is born.
He is different than his spawnmates, he can tell. All they want is blood, prey, and fights. He finds he doesn't enjoy eating the meat given to him by his Female Spawner, but he doesn't show it because that's how Elder Female Spawnmate was killed.
The word "sister" pops into his mind, but he doesn't know what that means, so he ignores it.
When he is old enough to kill on his own, he is addressed by his Packleader as Foniás, but it echoes wrongly and he almost wants to protest.
He ignores it, and accepts his reward for surviving.
He doesn't want to be different, because those different are killed, so he doesn't think about how the sight of the dead Prey, two-legged with a fire-colored second-skin, cause bile to rise in his throat.
Foniás the hellhound takes a bite out of the bloody meat.