You must stop it, Aminta cried.
“I have to help Orion,” he growled.
You must stop the alien from reaching the Gateway, Aminta frantically insisted.
“After I save Orion,” he calmly replied.
“Asahi!”
The sound of Nali’s voice caused him to jerk to a stop, and he searched for her. He was surprised to see she wasn’t alone. He instinctively steadied Ashure when she released the pirate. She landed beside them with a rush of wind.
“There is another alien, I take it,” Ashure said, looking at the gaping hole.
“Yes, it headed into the woods. Orion fell into the fissure,” Asahi said, swaying.
“What is it?” Nali asked.
He wanted to close his eyes when she cupped his face between her hands. “We need to see if Orion is alive and stop the alien,” he growled.
“I’ve got Orion,” Ashure offered. “If there’s a lake down there like he said, he’ll be fine. He’s probably talking to an antisocial sea monster hidden in the depths as we speak.” Ashure handed his precious sword to Nali. “Take my sword; you’ll need it more than I will. Now you two go save our worlds! I’ve seen what will happen if you don’t.”
Nali took the magic sword and nodded. With a flick of her fingers, a sheath with a strap formed around the sword. She slid the strap over her head and positioned it against her side.
“Three—we three will go save the world,” Mr. Gryphon grumbled. “One of these days you people will stop forgetting your most important treasure like I’m some ordinary, dusty relic! I’m the Golden Dagger, and I can slay evil aliens just as well as any sword the Sea Witch can enchant. How many times am I going to have to save the day before I get any respect?”
“You have my greatest respect, Mr. Gryphon,” Asahi reassured the golden lion before he turned his attention to Nali. “How fast can you fly?” he asked.
“Fast,” she replied with a determined glint in her eyes. She stepped behind him and held him tight.
Taking a deep breath, Asahi realized that this might be the last time he ever felt her arms around him, and he was going to savor every second.
“Oh, this is going to be fun,” Mr. Gryphon sassed. “Whatever you do, don’t drop me!” he ordered as he crawled to the hilt of the dagger and wrapped his tail around it.
“I won’t, my friend,” Asahi quietly promised. He tightened his grip on the dagger as Nali lifted them off the ground.
They soared across the meadow and into the forest at a blinding speed. Asahi’s breath caught in his throat as Nali skillfully negotiated the forest. She skirted around trees and under low-hanging limbs with the skill of a Peregrine falcon on the hunt. The alien serpent was less than a hundred yards ahead of them.
I have tried to slow it down, but now I haven’t the strength to resist it, Aminta’s faint voice murmured.
We will end this, Asahi silently vowed.
He didn’t know if Aminta heard him. He could no longer detect her tiny spark inside himself. Nali’s arms tightened around him, and he knew the final battle for their survival depended on what happened next.
“Fly over and drop me,” he instructed.
“Are you crazy?” she hissed in disbelief.
“Completely,” he replied.
She shook her head but swerved to intercept the alien serpent. “You’ve been hanging around Ashure for too long,” she muttered.
“I concur!” Mr. Gryphon snapped.
“Be ready, Golden Dagger,” Asahi warned.
Nali dropped them. He spread his feet apart and held the dagger with both hands as he fell. For a moment, he was weightless until his feet connected with the thick scales behind the serpent’s head, which was nearly thirty feet off the ground. He buried the dagger to the hilt in the smooth surface of the serpent’s skull and clung to the snake as it jerked.
Mr. Gryphon roared and blazed like a beacon as he poured every ounce of the magic held within his dagger into the alien. The serpent snapped its head back and forth, trying to dislodge the dagger. Asahi fought to hold on.
“Asahi, behind you!” Nali shouted.
Out of the corner of his eye, Asahi saw the serpent’s tail curving around in his direction. He let go when the serpent shook its head again, and as he went airborne, he twisted and stretched out his hands. Nali swooped down and caught him in midair.
She dropped him near the ground. Twisting around and facing the serpent, she pulled Ashure’s sword from the sheath. Asahi sprinted to the left, yelling, while Nali flew to the right.
The serpent swung its tail around and caught him across the stomach, knocking the breath out of him and lifting him off the ground again. Asahi clung to the tail and glanced up. Nali was deflecting the serpent’s lethal strikes.
Between attacks, the alien hissed, “You cannot defeat me. I have unlocked the knowledge and might of the most powerful species in the universe.”
Nali slashed the serpent’s nose. Ashure’s enchanted blade opened a deep cut, and the alien drew back with a loud hiss. Nali ducked when the serpent slammed into a nearby tree.
The impact nearly dislodged Asahi from the serpent’s tail. He dug his fingers in between the scales for better purchase and looked up. Mr. Gryphon was frantically trying to pull the dagger out of the sticky black liquid pouring from the alien’s head. With grim determination, Asahi began climbing the creature’s back, while Nali kept the its attention on her and Ashure’s sword.
“You will never succeed,” she snarled. “Your reign of terror will end here and now.”
“It is only the beginning,” the alien gleefully hissed. “Nothing can stop me.”
An idea formed in Asahi’s mind. He could almost hear his grandfather chuckling. To kill evil, you need to cut off its head. Of course, Aiko had never mentioned evil being a giant serpent, most likely because his grandfather was terrified of snakes. Still, the words were
