The battle against the two gods drew on for a long time. Marina was just dodging a swing of the spear when a cry of pain entered her ears. She looked over and saw Kyle drop his scythe and fall to the ground. Tears streaming down her face she screamed so loud it looked like it shocked Eris. She gripped her sword and charged at Eris. Hunter watched Marina enter into battle with Eris and renewed his strength against Dolos. Hunter dodged a jab from the spear and hit it away with his knife. He took a step and elbowed Dolos in the chin. Dolos took a step back and then advanced again with a swing aimed at Hunter’s head. Hunter ducked the swing and slashed Dolos’ thigh. Dolos shouted in pain. He growled at Hunter and then raised his spear for a downward strike. Hunter took a step backward and dodged the strike and then stepped on the end of the spear. In a split second, He grabbed the orb and yanked it off of Dolos’ neck then slashed him across the chest. Ichor poured from the open wound. Hunter, still standing on top of the spear, lost his balance when Dolos pulled it back. He fell to the ground and braced himself for an attack. Dolos put away his spear and stood back away from Hunter. “I’d love to stay, but I’ve got too much to live for.” He looked over at Eris. “Oh and dear? We’re through.” He turned back to Hunter and winked. “I’ll see you around, kid.” As soon as he finished speaking, he snapped his fingers and disappeared. Eris screamed in anger. Hunter looked over and saw Will and Marina attacking Eris, unrelentingly. She had small cuts all over her body, leaking ichor onto the ground.
“This fight is unnecessary! You can’t kill me! I’m a god! I cannot be killed with your mortal weapons!” She stood back and sheathed her sword. Marina put her sword away and then knelt down next to Kyle who was still on the ground, unconscious. Will and Hunter stood, staring at the goddess as she pointed her hands in their direction. Kyle screamed out in agony. Eris cackled. “Any injury caused with my blade can be worsened by my control. I hold your friend’s life in my hands!” Eris stared at Hunter, her eyes narrowed. “So what is your plan? How will you defeat a god?” She flexed her arms and another shriek of pain came from Kyle.
“Make her stop, Hunter! He can’t take much more.” Marina said, trying to comfort Kyle. Hunter looked back at Eris. She was staring at Hunter until something else caught her eye. Hunter followed her eyes to Will. He looked above Will’s head and saw a blue trident floating above his head.
“No…it can’t be. He was right.” Eris shrieked. She lowered her arms and backed up against a wall. Will looked up and saw the trident, floating above his head. He turned to Hunter looking for an explanation. Hunter didn’t have one. Suddenly, there was a bright light. Hunter couldn’t find its source. He looked at Will and then realized that the belt buckle he had been given was now floating in front of him. In another flash of light it transformed into a trident. Will grabbed the shining blue trident out of the air and held it in his hand. It looked natural in his hands. “No! Don’t!” Eris pleaded. Will gripped the trident then threw it. The trident impaled Eris through the neck pinning her to the wall. Ichor burst from her throat. Her mouth opened to scream, but no sound came out. Golden ichor poured from her face and pooled on the ground. The trident still holding her to the wall, she slowly went limp and then dissolved into the pool of golden ichor that amassed on the ground. Will went to grab the trident but it disappeared before he could grab it. The belt buckle returned to Will’s waist.
“What…was that?” Hunter asked, putting his hand on his shoulder. Will looked down and examined the belt buckle around his waist. He looked up and smiled at Hunter.
“I’m the son of Poseidon!” Will laughed. “I never would have guessed! He wasn’t even on my list!” Will gave a great big smile and started laughing again.
“I would hate to rain on your parade, Will, but Kyle is hurt. On top of that, we still don’t have a way out of here.” Marina said, still knelt down next to Kyle. She was crying, but had still managed to tie a bandage around the wound on Kyle’s leg. “I gave him some ambrosia, but it doesn’t seem like it helped. We need to get him out of here.” Hunter realized that they didn’t have a way out of the Underworld. Why hadn’t he thought about this? He knew that there wasn’t a way out of the Underworld. He stopped and said a silent prayer to Artemis.
“Wow. He looks rough.” Hunter whipped around and saw Hermes standing in his uniform looking at Kyle. “You should really get him out of here.”
“Hermes? How did you get here? Why aren’t you still under the curse?” As soon as Hunter said it, he remembered the orb. He reached into his pocket and tapped it, making sure it was safe.
“Kid, I’m the messenger god. I travel freely through here. I still have to deliver messages to Hades, you know? So you ready to get out of here? I’ll show you the way I use.” He said, eyebrows raised. Hunter was a little surprised. He looked at Kyle and nodded to Hermes.
“Yeah. Let’s get out of here.” Hunter said calmly. He grabbed his stuff and helped Kyle to his feet. Using Hunter and Will as crutches, Kyle was on his feet. Marina was carrying his stuff. Hermes led the way down a hallway that sprouted off from the throne room. It wasn’t a very long distance, but it felt like it, carrying Kyle the whole way. Hermes stopped in front of a wall. He took out his cellphone and then held it out towards the wall. In a second, it transformed into a caduceus. Hermes grabbed it and then tapped the wall three times with it. The wall cracked and then split apart revealing a doorway that led to a staircase. He hurried everyone through and then tapped the ground with his caduceus. The wall closed and then resealed.
“Alright, this exit leads into the National Arboretum in Washington, DC. The columns that you’ll see were once part of the US Capitol Building. Russell Page was a son of Athena and arranged to have them placed here mainly to protect this entrance into the Underworld, but it also looks very nice.” Hermes said with a chuckle. They group finally got to the end of the staircase and was crouched under a door that was right above them. Hermes tapped the Caduceus again and the door pushed up and then split and created a door way. They walked out and walked across the pool of water they had emerged from. Luckily this section of the park was empty seeing as it was around 4:30 in the afternoon. Kyle was drifting in and out of consciousness. Hunter stood ready to go, but had no idea where Dolos went.