A/N: Welcome to the second part of the Etymology series! If you are joining in from part one, thanks for continuing with me! If you are just joining, I highly suggest you go back and read the first part: The Etymology of Power and Resilience. A lot of this story is NOT going to make sense otherwise!

I am really excited to get this started! I really hope that you guys enjoy! If you do please bookmark, subscribe, give kudos, and comment! I read each comment and reply to them. Happy reading!


The boy stuck out his hand. "I'm Alabaster."

Nico shook his hand warily. "Nico."

"You sure you're not-" Alabaster stopped speaking abruptly as a low growl emanated from the direction he had been running. When he spoke again, it was quiet and deliberate as though trying to not alarm Nico. "Okay. So. You should probably get away from here. I'll hold it off but you need to leave."

Nico blanched as the creature emerged. Out of the trees ambled a thick black body four times the height of a human. Three hoof-like legs, stout and hardened like an insect carapace, poked their way through the vegetation. Mouths. Multiple mouths adorned the body in no discernable pattern. Snot-like goo dripped from its teeth. Four tentacles as thick as tree-trunks undulated from atop the body while various smaller tentacles rippled and waved back and forth.

Alabaster whipped his head around, the calm tone from before gone. "You know, on second thought, let's run." Alabaster looked back at him, his green eyes wild with panic. "Now!"

"There's no way we're outrunning that thing. We need to fight." Nico readied himself and grasped for his Stygian blade only to find air. "Schist. Do you have any Celestial Bronze weapons? Imperial Gold?" The creature screeched and scuttled towards them, moving faster than its size would dictate. "Di immortales! What is that?"

Alabaster shouted in his ear as the creature began to shriek. "You're a demigod?!"

Nico kept his eyes on the creature. "Yes! I mean, no. Not anymore. I used to be!"

The other boy didn't respond. He thrust his hand over Nico's shoulder, aiming at the charging monster and yelled, "Incantare: Dis Bestia!"

A bright green light shot from Alabaster's hand. It touched upon the beast and pushed it backward fifty feet.

Nico shouted, "We need it to go farther than that!"

Alabaster nodded. "That should have pushed it almost half a mile away." Without missing a beat, he proceeded to shout again, touching one of the green symbols on his clothing. "Incantare: Gelu Semita!" A slight frost formed on the ground and the temperature dropped. The creature shrieked, the sound ricocheting in Nico's skull.

"That should have frozen it! The spells aren't working!" Alabaster sounded on the edge of panic.

Nico fought the urge to roll his eyes but couldn't quite keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "Gee, ya think?"

The creature reared back, balancing precariously on one of its tripod legs before bringing the other two barely a foot away from the demigods. Claws like pincers dragged through the earth creating furrows of ruined land.

Nico threw himself backwards, pushing the other demigod to the ground in the process.

The monster pulled itself over until it towered above them.

Nico threw his arm behind him. "Take my hand!"

"What?" Alabaster's muffled voice sounded surprised.

"Just do it!" He felt the other boy slip his hand into Nico's. The son of Hades closed his eyes and reached for the shadows. The dappled sunlight of the forest gave plenty of opportunity for shadows. He could just whisk them away to another location and they'd be safe. He heard Alabaster yell but couldn't make out the words.

Nico felt a small tug in his gut but when he opened his eyes, they hadn't moved an inch. He clenched his eyes shut and tried again. He heard Alabaster chuckle beside him as if amused by their imminent death.

"Are you only holding my hand because we're going to die?" Alabaster sounded genuinely curious.

"Shut up! Why don't you do something to help?" Nico couldn't understand why the monster wasn't attacking them. Or why Alabaster was suddenly so calm.

"Like hold someone's hand and close my eyes?" Nico could hear the laughter in Alabaster's voice. "I am doing something. If you would open your eyes again and look, you'd see that."

When Nico did as Alabaster instructed, he saw that the creature was still moving but in slow motion.

Nico let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "What did you do?"

Alabaster smiled tiredly. "Incantare: Tempus Tarda. Nothing I was doing was affecting it- not to the degree it should have, anyway. So," the green-eyed boy gestured around him. "I aimed at something different: time." A cocky smile stretched across his face. "You're welcome."

Nico flung Alabaster's hand from him and stood up. "We better get out of here. While we have the chance."

Alabaster pushed himself to his feet, dusting off his pants and readjusting the messenger bag slung over his back. "I can't hold the spell much longer. I'm already-" Alabaster stumbled and, for a second, time resumed its normal pace. The monster pulled its legs into the air again, ready to strike. Nico hastily reached out to steady Alabaster, who threw his hand up and shouted, "Incantare: Tempus Tarda!"

The creature slowed once more, but not to the degree from before.

"Schist." Nico glanced about him and saw an alcove of trees creating a dense darkness. He pulled Alabaster's arm around his shoulders. "Come on. We gotta move."

Alabaster didn't respond. They hurried to reach the alcove. As soon as they were in shadow, Nico reached for the darkness again.

"So," Alabaster started, the fatigue ringing clear through his voice. "What's the plan? We have maybe ten or fifteen seconds until I can't sustain this any more."

"Just be quiet. Don't move. Don't make a sound." Nico closed his eyes again, dimly aware of Alabaster's arm shaking around his shoulder. He was likely to collapse at any second.

The shadows were wary of Nico, edging away from him like a dog unsure of being pet. He coaxed and cajoled them until, reluctantly, the shadows languidly slid over the duo.

Alabaster whispered, "That's it. I can't hold it any more."

Nico nodded curtly. "Let go."

The creature brought its legs crashing down into the earth, tearing into the spot they had been one minute prior. It screeched and shrieked in dismay, its prey having alluded it. It scrambled about, turning in circles trying to find them.

Alabaster took a shaky breath. He turned his palm slowly and deliberately so as to not make any noise. Once his palm was pressed against one of the green sigils on his shirt, he softly sighed, "Incantare: Viribus Accipere." The green symbol glowed briefly on Alabaster's shirt before it seeped into the skin of his palm. And then, just as carefully as earlier, Alabaster turned his palm outward and pointed his finger across the clearing and up the hill from where he had run. "Incantare: Ventus Celer!"

A gust of wind shot across the clearing and tore up the mountain side. The monster let out a stomach-churning wail and clambered after the wind. After several moments, the sound of it crashing through the woods faded.

Nico let the shadows recede and turned to the boy beside him. "You okay?"

Alabaster, his skin an unhealthy shade, nodded haltingly. "Just...really tired. I hate having to pull the energy from my wards."

"Wards?" Nico furrowed his brow.

Alabaster waved his question away. "Later." He took a deep breath and pulled his arm from around Nico's shoulders. "Are you okay? I mean...I ran into you, we fell down the very long and seemingly endless hill, then we fought that...thing. So," Alabaster's eyes raked over Nico. "Are. You. Okay?"

Nico glared at the other demigod. "I'm fine. It didn't hurt. I didn't feel…" Nico trailed off as he realized he hadn't felt anything. No pain when Alabaster collided with him. No pain fighting the creature. He looked down at his palms. No scrapes. No bruises. "I didn't feel anything."

Alabaster looked Nico up and down, eyeing him suspiciously before zeroing in on something near Nico's heart. He pointed to Nico's shirt, his voice rising in disbelief. "What is that?"

Nico looked down. A green symbol, similar to the ones decorating the other boy's clothes, glowed faintly against the black of his shirt. Nico looked up. "I have no idea."

Alabaster's eyes grew wide. He slung his bag off from around his shoulders, muttering to himself. "Why didn't I see it before? Why would she do this? Why send me another one. I don't need another one." From his bag he pulled out what seemed to be a box made for holding a deck of notecards. He opened it with a practiced flick of his wrist and removed the cards. Alabaster rifled through them, seeming to name them as he went. "Blade. Dad. Dad 2. Claymore. Backpa-what."

He paused on a card. It was blank save for a small symbol that matched the one on Nico's shirt. He squatted still and silent for a moment before jumping to his feet. He brandished the card to the sky. "Mother! What gives? First Claymore, now this guy? What, you think I need a friend or something? A playdate?" There was no reply from the heavens. None that Nico could hear.

Alabaster sighed and dropped his hand, stuffing the card back into the box. He shoved the deck box into his bag and slung the bag over his shoulder. "So, are you one of mother's constructs? Wait- you said you used to be a demigod? Did you die or something?"

Nico ignored the last question and chewed the inside of his cheek. "Who is your mother?" The sinking feeling in Nico's gut told him that Alabaster was going to be the boy he had to help. Who had to help him.

Alabaster shook his bangs out of his eyes. "Hecate."

Nico sighed and looked to the heavens just as the other demigod had done moments before. "Seriously, Hecate? Are you sure this is the only path?"

"If she didn't answer me," Alabaster smirked, "she definitely won't answer you. My mother actually likes me."

"Does she now? Is that why she saddled you with me?" It was Nico's turn to grin as the smug smile dropped off the other demigod's face.

"You know what? I don't think I need you. I can just unsummon you and-" Alabaster had pulled his bag around again and was digging for the deck box. He had just pulled it from the bag when he stumbled to the side, dropping the box in the process. "Whoa."

Nico reached out to steady the demigod. "Take it easy. You might have overdone it."

"I didn't overdo it. I-" Whatever the son of Hecate had been about to say, Nico would never know. Alabaster's eyelids fluttered. The last glimpse Nico had of him was his eyes rolling back in his head and beginning to crumple to the floor of the forest.

Nico blinked. There was no more forest. No annoying Alabaster threatening to "unsummon" him. He was in a room, almost like the infirmary back at Camp Half-Blood. But the floors were stone. The walls were stone. Arched windows with stained glass filtered a dusky twilight into the room. A bookcase at the end of the room held a collection of dusty leather bound journals with no titles. Several armchairs and tables littered the space before the bookcase.

"Well, hello there."

Nico whirled around. An older man with green eyes and wavy brown hair similar to Alabaster's stood with a saucer and cup of tea in his hands. He stared blankly at Nico.

"Would you like some tea?"

Nico blinked. "What?"

"Oh leave the boy alone! He doesn't want any tea, you daft idiot! He can't even drink it!" Nico turned, startled. A figure drew itself up from one of the armchairs. Nico hadn't even realized the chair had been occupied. "You would think that boy would start making more intelligent Mistforms."

The speaker was a middle-aged man with a severe looking face. His mouth was framed by frown lines and his nose was a stern slope upon which perched a pair of spectacles. Watery grey eyes peered at him through the lenses of his glasses. Thinning hair combed sideways tried to hide a receding hairline. He wore tan trousers and a soft-looking cable knit sweater in a rather bland sand color.

"Who? W-where?" Nico stuttered and looked around, nonplussed at the sights around him. Where was the forest?

The man looked down his long nose at Nico. "Well, not a construct then, I see." The man closed the journal he had been reading and crossed to put it on the shelf. "Did Alabaster turn you into a Mistform? Or was it his mother?"

Nico swallowed. "You mean Hecate?"

"Yes. Hecate." Nico nodded and the man continued. "Well, don't offer any more details on my account."

Nico shook his head and took a step toward the man. "I...died. Hecate offered to make me a Mistform." He looked around the room. "I was in the forest with Alabaster and then...here? Where is here? Where's the forest gone?"

The man tsked and resumed his seat, motioning for Nico to join him. "Well, since this room is still here, I can assume Alabaster didn't die at the very least. I have to say, I know I'm not much help to him with the physical fights- I get in the way more often than not- but he almost never summons me anymore unless he needs some answers." He cocked his head to one side. "Or when he gets lonely, I suppose."

Nico stayed where he was. "So where am I?"

"Yes, right. Well, Alabaster can't maintain summonings when he's asleep. Or did he pass out this time?" The man shook his head. "Either way, while he is not conscious, he cannot maintain Mistform summonings. The only magic that stays are the ones that have physical sigils in the real world- not tied to this one. So all of us Mistforms and constructs like "Dad" over there," he motioned to the tea-wielding man, "exist in this dimension."

Nico crossed the room and slowly sank into one of the armchairs. "So...did you used to be someone too?"

The man smiled wryly and removed his glasses, inspecting and then cleaning the lenses with a handkerchief he pulled from his pants pocket. "Well, I was indeed someone once. A doctor actually."

"Well, that's noble, I guess." Nico shrugged, unsure of what else to say.

"Not that kind of doctor." The man huffed and pushed his spectacles back on his face. "I am a doctor of philosophy. I studied Metaphysics and gave philosophical assessments on the truth of matters such as the probability of an afterlife."

Nico stared at the man who sighed and leaned forward, holding his hand out to the son of Hades. "My name is Dr. Howard Claymore. It's a pleasure to meet you."