The Blood of Three

Chapter 45

I slammed my trident into the ground, hoping to stun the monstrous creature standing in front of me. Unfortunately, he stood straight, unfazed by the earthquake erupting around him.

Typhon laughed. "There's no use, Riley. You'll fail."

"Xiphos." Twisting around, I forced all my weight behind my sword and sliced the head off one of the serpents. I was about to congratulate myself when the snake's skin extended and created a new head in place of the old one. My smile fell.

The serpent went in for a strike, but I jumped to the side, dodging the fangs that I assumed were poisonous. Kyle threw fireballs at the snakes coiled around Typhon's legs. The snakes detested the fire; with every hit they cowered back.

"Kyle!" I shouted. He nodded, knowing exactly what I needed and threw a massive flaming sphere in my direction. The fire missed me by mere inches and slammed into the snake full force. Hissing in frustration, the snake coiled further around Typhon's leg. I took advantage of the free moment and ran to Kyle.

We stood side by side, facing our enemy. I tightened my grip on the bronze sword until my knuckles turned white, and flames arose from Kyle's palms. The fire was white, with the slightest shade of orange around the edges. I could feel the intense heat coming from the flame.

"I can kill the snakes with fire," Kyle suggested. "I need you to make the biggest earthquake you can make. Aim it so the epicenter is right underneath him. We need to knock him off his feet."

Taking a deep breath, I nodded. "Ready?"

He bobbed his head in return as the flames in his palms grew higher. "Let's get this over with." With that, he charged, summoning all the fire he could possibly throw. Once the fire left his hands, he gave me my signal. "Now!" he yelled.

As hard as I could, I thrust my sword into the ground and earth exploded around me. Dirt flew into the air and large rocks shattered into small pebbles as the ground beneath us rumbled. I looked over in time to see Kyle's ball of fire hit its target. The two snakes hissed as their skin began to burn. Kyle threw another—this one even bigger. The snakes burned to a crisp, then faded to black mist. I smiled.

Typhon roared, ready for a real fight. "I could really use a sword!" Kyle declared.

I glanced behind Typhon. The two swords he had abandoned were lying on the ground in a pile of dirt. Glancing up at the monster, I threw my sword as hard as I could toward its chest. In midair, my sword morphed back into a bronze trident. All I needed was a distraction.

Sprinting behind him, I grabbed the two blades. "Kyle!" I ran toward him and tossed them. He caught them with ease and smiled. The monster had knocked my trident aside with no struggle, so I reached out for my weapon, which was now lying behind a few bushes. When it flew back into my hand, I gripped it tightly. "What's the plan?" I asked Kyle, mentally preparing myself for a fight.

"We don't give him what he wants, and we don't die in the meantime," he answered.

I inhaled. "That's all you've got?"

He bobbed his head once. "Yeah."

Nodding, I sighed, accepting the weak plan. "Okay."

We both knew it was time to act, so we charged. Kyle sliced Typhon's leg with both of his blades and I threw my trident into his stomach. The creature laughed, unscathed and amused by our futile attempts.

After I regained possession of my weapon, I slammed it into the ground. The earth cracked around us. Kyle jumped forward as the ground opened up behind him, and Typhon stumbled as the ground cracked under his feet.

However, after regaining his balance, the monster smiled. "That was good," he admitted. "But not good enough." He swept his arm out and knocked me aside like a rag doll. Flying back, I collided with a tree and pain spread through my back. I groaned, but shook it off and climbed to my feet, immediately making my way back to Kyle.

Kyle had given up on one of the swords and was using fire as his main defense. The one sword he held was enwrapped in flames and as he swung the blade around, balls of fire detached and flew toward Typhon. The monster bellowed as the fire hit him, stumbling on the cracks in the dry ground. He fell back, knocking down a tree in the process, then roared again, embarrassed by his own inconvenience.

Suddenly, dark clouds consumed the sky, not leaving the slightest patch of blue. Everything around us grew dark; Kyle and I stopped, confused by the sudden weather change. Even Typhon looked around questioningly as he climbed to his feet.

Then, a single lightning bolt descended from the storm clouds, striking Typhon and sending electricity coursing through him. The monster roared in pain and fell back once again. Just as fast as the lightning had appeared, it was gone.

The clouds separated just enough to let some sunlight through. Now that I could see better, I caught sight of Dylan flying down toward us. Kyle had already spotted him and was jogging in his direction. "I thought you could use some help," Dylan spoke as he landed in front of us. He smiled at me, but I didn't respond.

Kyle glanced at me before we both grinned at Dylan. "Thanks. We're happy you're here. How did you know we needed help?"

"Monsters flooded Safe Haven after the two of you left. When I noticed Terran wasn't around, I knew he was probably looking for you," he explained before turning his attention to Typhon. "Well you look different." A second lightning bolt struck the monster, but this time he climbed to his feet, apparently unaffected.

"It looks like the gang's all here." Typhon smiled. "I'm so glad you could join us, Dylan."

The son of Zeus held his sword defensively in front of him. "Yeah, so am I."

"I really wish I had my sword," Kyle groaned as Typhon started walking in our direction. "Mine catches fire a lot more easily than this one does."

"Go get it," I told him, taking a step toward our enemy. "We can handle Typhon for a minute or two."

Kyle looked at Dylan, who agreed with me. Then just like that, Kyle ran behind a tree and disappeared.

Typhon swung his arm around and threw Dylan aside.

"You really enjoy doing that don't you?" I asked, advancing on him. After dodging an attack by his talons, I ran toward his back. He ascended into the air and hit me with a flap of his wing.

My feet were knocked out from under me, but I quickly recovered and dove into the air. The point of my trident caught his wing and ripped a hole in it. Typhon immediately fell back to the ground, his glowing red eyes glaring at me, just before he reached down and slammed my head into a nearby tree.

I cried out in pain and collapsed to my knees. Through blurry vision, I watched a large ball of fire hit the side of Typhon's face, as a boy ran from behind a tree. Soon, Kyle was at my side, pulling me to my feet. "Are you okay?" he asked, holding my head up in his hands.

"Yeah," I assured him. I felt a little dizzy, but I knew I didn't have any major damage. Ignoring the pain in my skull, I followed Kyle back to face the monstrous creature that awaited us.

Dylan flew around the monster's waist, teasing him. Typhon tried to swat him out of the air like he would a fly but Dylan was too fast. He dragged his golden blade across the monster's chest, back and arms. Typhon gritted his teeth and swatted again, this time making contact.

Dylan's body slammed into the ground. Dazed, he slowly climbed to his feet a moment later and after gathering himself together, looked fine.

His situation seemed familiar. My thoughts flashed back to the time when Aidan, Dylan and I were in the city and Dylan was swatted out of the air by a titan. "How do we kill him?" I asked Kyle.

"I don't know," he admitted. "But it's going to take all three of us."