Earthbound

Chapter 4

Another knife gets thrown at him and another grazes the Griffin's claw.

"You pretentious child! Surrender to your mighty goddess!"

"You were eaten by your own husband!" Floriano groans from beside the Griffin, working to free its eagle-like legs.

"Do not bring that scum into this!" She yells as thunder roars in the dark clouds. It's clear it isn't just random weather – Zeus was watching this go down. "You will burn, my love!" She says to the sky. "You will burn until the skies are forever clear!"

It didn't seem to be that much of an insult to Floriano, but lightning struck the ground over and over as rain started pouring. What was once a clear blue day was a gloomy lightning-stricken rainstorm.

Momentarily, the Titan forgot about Floriano and the Griffin. Instead, she pleased herself with yelling profanities to her former lover. He used this time to tug on the Griffin's chains. The creature squawked quietly.

"All right," Floriano whispers to the Griffin, "One more to go."

He tries to think of a plan. The goddess has been more focused on her failed marriage than him – which he counts as a good thing. He looks back up to the Griffin. The Nemean Lion's bone laid beside him. Assuming Zeus hated Metis more than Floriano, he could ride the Griffin out of the wasteland, unharmed and never looking back. Yet, the very last chain seemed to be the tightest.

"Come on," He seethes quietly, drowned under the goddess's curses. There was no avail. The more Floriano tugged, the louder it seemed to grow.

"Oh you poor thing," Metis says in faux-sympathy. "You just can't seem to step away from that creature." She tuts, "Maybe it's time I give you a little help."

Suddenly, the metal under his fingertips felt like touching hot coal. He hissed and retracted his hands, stepping back – feeling the quickening of his chest urge him to. Living underneath treetops in the outdoors has trained Floriano to trust his instincts more than anything. In this moment, he thanks whichever deity helped him gain this skill as a javelin raced past his previous spot and cut through a standing tree, splitting it in half. He stared at Metis incredulously. The ground around him started to crack.

"You psychopath!" He sneered. Floriano opens his palm and Nemean Lion's bone finds its place within his grip. Metis smiles brightly as if it were a compliment.

"You flatter me and my abilities, demigod."

Floriano's eye twitched. He had enough of this woman trying to kill him in every possible way just for the fun of it.

"You test my patience, Titan." The earth obeys to him. The ground under Metis pulls her closer to Floriano. He raises his hooked staff, aiming right towards her heart. Metis is cunning to her core, however, as a gust of sharp wind slams into his stomach as if he were being punched by a thousand boxers. He curves into himself clutching his stomach.

An endless amount of weapons are always on standby for Metis, he finds out, as a Celestial bronze sword slashes his left cheek open. He has the ground lift him high above her again as an escape. From here, the rain seems harsher. He can barely see through his eyelashes as water drips down his face.

Metis groans below him, probably from missing an opportunity to decapitate him.

"Enough!" He yells at her. "Enough," Floriano's chest heaves. His hands still stung from holding hot metal, his ribs felt like they'd been shattered in different directions, he feels the blood from his cheek drip down his neck, and worst of all, his arms felt like he'd had hundreds of burning rubber bands wrapped around them. Floriano looked down to his forearms and curses. Instead of the usual blue-green color of his veins, they were outlines of black blood. Gods, what is happening to him?