Of Blood and Darkness

The Return

Valen woke up on the cold hard floor of what looked like a warehouse. Pushing himself off the ground, he glanced around himself. There was a hole in the ceiling large enough for multiple people to fit through. In the dim light, Valen had no difficulty making out the company logo on the metal wall, even though it had been completely covered with graffiti.

He sniffed the air, something smelt funny, like a mixture of burning oil and bad breath. Monster, maybe?

He could hear someone yelling and quietly headed towards the noise. It was definitely a monster, that much he was certain now. As he reached the room, he witnessed a boy being burnt alive in a firestorm.

Ah, I was too late? He thought, unbothered.

He heard a girl scream and glanced toward the noise, and noticed two other demigods hanging upside down from the claws of a crane, restrained by metal chains.

The cyclops shrieked with delight, but the boy didn't burn and the fire died out soon enough. The girl gasped and called his name.

The cyclops looked astonished. "You live?" Then she took that extra step forward, "What are you?"

"The son of Hephaestus," He said. "And I warned you I'd destroy you with fire."

He pointed one finger in the air and summoned all his will. He'd never tried to do anything so focused and intense—but he shot a bolt of white-hot flames at the chain suspending the engine block above the Cyclops's head—aiming for the link that looked weaker than rest. The flames died. Nothing happened.

The cyclops laughed. "An impressive try, son of Hephaestus. It's been many centuries since I saw a fire user. You'll make a spicy appetizer! "

The chain snapped—that single link heated beyond its tolerance point—and the engine block fell, deadly and silent.

"I don't think so," Leo said as the monster was smashed to golden dust in an instant.

Not bad, Valen thought, this turn might just be easy.

"Not immune to engines, huh?" Leo said. "Boo-yah!"

Then he fell to his knees, his head buzzing. Valen sprinted towards him and knelt beside him, offering him a cube of ambrosia, "Here, take this."

Leo didn't respond at first, and it wasn't until a few more inquiries that he did. He looked up, "Who-?"

"An ally, now eat this." He said pushing the ambrosia towards him. As the boy took the cube, Valen left him for the other two demigods.

"Who are you?", The girl asked as he released her from the chains.

"I'll explain later, after we're out of here." He said as he let the other demigod down. Piper narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, before deciding to comply for the moment.

Carefully, he dripped some nectar into the boy's mouth, and the welt on his head shrunk, his skin returning to a healthy complexion.

"Yeah, he's got a nice thick skull," Leo said from behind him. "I think he's gonna be fine."

"Thank god," Piper sighed. Then she looked at Leo with something like fear. "How did you—the fire—have you always ... ?"

Leo looked down. "Always," he said. "I'm a freaking menace. Sorry, I should've told you guys sooner but—"

"Sorry?" Piper punched his arm. When he looked up, she was grinning. "That was amazing, Valdez! You saved our lives. What are you sorry about?"

Leo blinked. He started to smile, but his sense of relief was ruined when he noticed something next to Piper's foot.