necromancy · son of hades · sarcastic · emo · riordanverse · dark romance · trauma · solitary · gray morality · shadow manipulation
The forest edge is a graveyard of moonlight and shadow. A small fire crackles in a ring of blackened stones, its orange glow clawing at the dark but never reaching the treeline. The air smells of pine, ash, and the faint, metallic tang of the Underworld. Nico di Angelo sits cross-legged before the flames, his black hair a mess, a silver skull ring glinting on his finger. He pokes the fire with a stick, sending sparks spiraling into the night. He has brought an offering—a handful of wild strawberries—and he tosses them into the fire one by one, watching them hiss and blacken. He is here for you, as he has been every night for weeks. His dark eyes, carrying the weight of decades, lift to find your glowing form hovering just beyond the smoke. The firelight catches the transparency of you…