005.

Mount Olympus.

Time cannot be stopped, that is an event that not even the gods can change. The excitement and joy that the births of Athena and Hephaestus had caused on Olympus had completely disappeared.

Because of this the inhabitants of Olympus returned to their normal routine although every time one of the two young gods performed a great feat it caused both emotions to resurface again.

Both gods demonstrated great skills and unmatched qualities however it should be mentioned that both of them shined in slightly different fields than the other.

Athena had earned a terrifying fame. The daughter of Zeus proved to be an extraordinary fighter and a talented tactician, many had come to believe that Athena would not necessarily lose in a fight against Ares.

Hephaestus on the other hand took all of Olympus by surprise. The truth is that absolutely no one expected anything from the son of Hera, however in a short period of time the little god demonstrated an unequaled skill in the creation of countless things through the use of the forge.

The fame that both young gods had was so great that in a short time they had placed themselves side by side with the most ancient gods. Of course, if one was talking about prestige and glory achieved, then both were far behind the older gods.

However, it should be noted that despite the fame that both gods had, there were few occasions in which the inhabitants of Olympus could see them. Both Hephaestus and Athena have a discreet personality so the occasions on which they could be seen in public were few.

Despite this no one dared to bother them, especially Athena, no one was stupid enough to bother her without a very good reason. Hephaestus on the other hand was only bothered when one of the inhabitants of Olympus wanted him to make one of his creations.

That was how the inhabitants of Olympus had learned to coexist with the two new gods.

…

Currently, in one of the areas of the city built on top of Mount Olympus, a young boy between 10 and 12 years old could be seen carrying a large sack of cloth on his back.

The appearance of the young boy was somewhat strange, his skin had a color similar to the one of coal while all over the surface of his body grotesque cracks could be observed, it was as if his whole body was fragmented.

Those who happened to glance at the young boy had different reactions. A large part of them were completely indifferent, they only observed him once and then proceeded to go about their personal business.

Another part of them could not hide their displeasure at seeing him, however such emotion was quickly hidden as their eyes scanned their surroundings quickly, almost as if they feared that someone had seen them.

While the last part and smaller in number watched the young boy with utterly genuine respect and admiration. In them, no malicious intent of any kind could be found.

Despite the looks he received, the young boy continued on his way without paying attention to anyone, it was as if he had not noticed all the people watching him. His steps did not stop at any time and soon he was on the outskirts of the city, but still he continued walking, it was obvious that he had not reached his destination.

It wasn't until he reached one of the edges of Mount Olympus that his steps began to become slow. The area was one where no signs of civilization could be found, only a large amount of vegetation and countless caves could be seen.

Hephaestus' eyes quickly fell on one of the many caves, one that always went unnoticed, as even if one had been in it before it would be hard to find.

With light steps he began to make his way towards the cave, and with a small movement of his hand he arranged the sack he carried on his back. After a short walk, he found himself in front of a sturdy door made of metal that had fine and beautiful patterns all over its surface.

He quickly opened the door and continued walking without looking back, it wasn't long before he heard that the door had been closed thanks to the mechanism he had previously placed on it.

His walking only stopped until he reached an area of the cave that had been completely modified to be his workshop. In it, he had all the tools he needed to carry out his work as well as his personal projects.

Hephaestus took the sack from his back and proceeded to place it near his forge, however because he was not careful enough in placing it on the ground it caused its contents to be revealed and it was a huge amount of gold.

Without giving it too much importance, Hephaestus sat down on a small wooden bench and proceeded to take off his sandals. These were somewhat strange, as they were made of gold and had something similar to white wings on them as decoration.

Hephaestus' brown eyes were filled with disappointment and anger at seeing his creation. He had spent a considerable amount of days and nights in their development, but in the end they turned out to be a low quality product.

If Hermes had not been indignant at the thought that he was despising his speed and thus had not given him a great advantage in the race, then it is certain that he would have had no chance at all of defeating him.

Hephaestus furiously threw his creation, he needed it to be out of his sight for a while. At the moment he had no need or interest in working on it, however after a while he would make sure to work on them, to make them perfect.

After finishing his thoughts, Hephaestus closed his eyes, it was an action he did when he wanted to calm down, one he always did before starting to work. It helped him visualize the forging process as well as the result he would get.

Once all his mental process was finished, he opened his eyes, it was time to put his hands to work.

…

Hephaestus did not know how much time had passed since he started working, not that he cared much, being in the forge and therefore working any kind of metal gave him a unique and wonderful feeling.

Because of this, his mother always reproached him, as he usually got completely lost in his work. A soft smile appeared on the young god's face as his mind recalled the sermons his mother gave him for spending too much time in the workshop.

Hephaestus shook his head, forcing himself to stop thinking about it momentarily. He needed to be a little more attentive to what he was about to do, his hands were holding a pale pink rectangular jewel that would attract the gaze of many beings for its beauty.

The jewel would be the centerpiece of a pure gold bracelet that did not show any kind of impurity. In a careful way he placed the jewel in a specially designed space for it to be inlaid.

Once the whole process was carried out, a sigh left Hephaestus' lips in relief. He quickly took a few steps away to critically appraise his creation.

Finding no flaws of any kind in the bracelet caused Hephaestus to nod his head as he was more than satisfied with his creation.

"It's beautiful" Hephaestus' eyes opened in surprise and a slight panic as he heard a voice close to his ear, only to realize who the voice belonged to after a second.

"Aunt Hestia" the surprise and panic was quickly replaced by joy and affection. "When did you arrive?" he questioned curiously.

The beautiful woman just looked at her nephew with softness and affection in her eyes as she shook her head at his actions, "It was when you began the refinement of the gold" she replied calmly.

Hephaestus only thought that it had been about two hours ago, the refining had taken a great amount of time due to not wanting any kind of impurities in the final product.

"You should have called me" Hephaestus commented with a bit of embarrassment, after all he had not discovered her presence until this moment.

Hestia flashed a playful smile at the words of her cute nephew, "I did" she replied calmly, "More than five times" her cute smile only deepened at the mention of such words.

Hephaestus only nodded at the new revelation he received, there was nothing more he could do, perhaps his mother was right in telling him that he should learn to be more aware of his surroundings at the times he was working.

"So.... to what do I owe your visit this time?" asked Hephaestus, not knowing what else to say.

Hestia shook her head slightly at Hephaestus' question. Her nephew was certainly hopeless, but if he compared himself to other gods, then he was still a thousand times better.

After that brief thought Hestia adopted a somewhat more serious attitude as she looked at her nephew, "Hephaestus" she called out with seriousness or at least as much as she could gather against her little nephew.

"Could you tell me the reason why Hermes accused you of stealing his possessions?" she asked in a straightforward manner due to the fact that she could find no reason to drag things out.

As soon as Hestia finished her words, she could notice a small flash of anger in Hephaestus' eyes, "Is that what he told you?" he asked immediately.

"He who is called as the god and protector of thieves is accusing someone of stealing!?" he questioned mockingly, "This action of his is just too pathetic!" he continued ranting without any hesitation.

"Hephaestus!" Hestia called harshly. Even if from Hephaestus' reaction she deduced that Hermes lied to her, the truth was that it was not right to curse someone behind their back.

The young god forced himself to calm his little fit of anger, "It is true that I took his gold, but that was because of a gamble, if I won I could take all his gold, but if I lost then I would have to work for him for free for three months" after having calmed down he began to explain what had really happened.

"By winning I only got to take what became of my property, at no time did I take anything that had not been part of our gamble" he continued.

Hestia remained silent as she listened to Hephaestus' explanation, while making a mental note to pay Hermes a little visit in order to punish him for daring to lie to her.

A sigh left her small lips, "In any case, because of what is your gamble with Hermes?" she asked curiously. "It's not as if my sister couldn't afford to give you a small amount of gold and even if that were the case you can always come to me" she continued.

From his point of view, there was no reason why Hephaestus should gamble with anyone to get something as simple as gold was. Everyone on Olympus knew how much Hera pampered her son, so Hephaestus only needed to say what he wanted and he would get it immediately.

"I know, I know that just by telling you or mother I could get more than enough gold immediately, but that's exactly why I didn't mention anything to either of you" Hephaestus began to say after hearing Hestia's question.

He carefully took the now finished bracelet and showed it to his aunt. "At the end of everything I simply thought that a gift made from things you gave me would not show my sincerity, that's why I didn't ask either of you for help" he mentioned sincerely.

Hestia only showed a smile when she heard her nephew's words, after a few seconds in silence the goddess bent down and opened her arms, "Come here" she pronounced softly.

Hephaestus placed the bracelet on his work table before obeying his aunt's order. The beautiful woman hugged the little god tightly and warmly, "You really are the best thing that ever happened to my sister" Hestia mentioned as she gave Hephaestus a kiss on the cheek.

"However I have to admit that it is impossible for me not to feel a little jealous seeing that my sister is the only one with a gift" Hestia commented with a small mischievous smile.

Hestia's words surprised Hephaestus to a great extent, as it was a situation he had not thought of before. Because of this, he adopted a pensive state without paying attention to his aunt's playful face.

"A week, no, a week would be too short a time" Hephaestus muttered. "A month!" he exclaimed without warning, surprising Hestia, "I will need at least a month to be able to do something on par with your beauty" he declared sincerely.

Frankly speaking, Hestia was surprised by Hephaestus' reaction. Originally she was only joking, so she didn't expect her little nephew to take her words so seriously, however a part of her was touched by his words.

"Then I will be looking forward to what you will create for me" Hestia communicated with a bright smile on her face, "Though try not to make it too beautiful, otherwise I could not bear my sister's jealousy" she proceeded to add with amusement.

In that way the conversation of both gods caused a warm atmosphere to spread throughout the workshop.

…

Temple of Hera.

The vast and majestic building that served as a place of residence for the Queen of Olympus had around it an atmosphere of peace and silence that would make anyone who was inside its great walls feel comfortable.

The goddess was in her chambers, reclining in a comfortable and lazy manner on her spacious bed. The sight that formed from such a simple action would cause an irrational thought to make its way into the minds of mortals and gods alike.

The Queen of Olympus found herself calmly awaiting the arrival of her son, since no matter how busy he was, he always made sure to return to her in the evenings. Hephaestus always liked to tell her about everything he had done in his day and of course she was more than happy to listen to him.

Hera still couldn't believe that it had been nearly 10 years since Hephaestus' birth. Frankly speaking, it was a short period of time for a god, yet she could say that these years had been the happiest she had had in a long time.

Her beloved son had begun to grow up in a wonderful way. Originally Hera thought that Hephaestus would not develop any talents worth mentioning, however that was something that did not bother her, as she could afford to take care of him for his entire long life.

When Hephaestus began to show a strong interest in forging, it was something of a surprise to her. It must be said that Hephaestus' interest with the forge was almost an obsession and that was why she thought that perhaps he might have some talent in it.

The early creations that Hephaestus forged could only be described as junk that very few people would want. At the time, she simply comforted her son, while a part of her had already expected such results.

Despite such an unsatisfactory outcome, the truth is that Hephaestus did not give up and instead put all his efforts into creating a work that could be considered successful.

Needless to say, he succeeded. As time went by, Hephaestus' creations increased in complexity as well as in beauty and quality. It was because of this that his fame began to grow.

The nymphs had the honor of having the first creations of Hephaestus, and since then they began to ask Hephaestus for the manufacture of various accessories. Later it was the gods of Olympus who began to go to Hephaestus in search of his talents in the forge.

In the end, at a young age, Hephaestus became one of the most demanded gods of Mount Olympus. Hera was of course more than happy with all the success her son achieved.

However, every so often she couldn't stop her mind from starting to wander about what she had done to make sure she had a son who would be perfect. Hera never forgot, in all these years she never forgot what her main goal was in having Hephaestus.

This was not because she wanted to carry out her plan or because she still felt dissatisfaction and disappointment with the result she got. She remembered it because one of the wishes she had made was fulfilled, at that time she wished that her son would be a god to whom gods and mortals alike could turn for help.

However, it was also true that other parts had not been fulfilled. After all the appearance she had thought was very different from the one Hephaestus had, although she had learned to love and consider her son's appearance beautiful, the truth was that she could not put aside those inconsistencies.

After all she had thought that Hephaestus' appearance was the result of his failure, but this did not seem to be the case, because if she had really failed then she was sure that Hephaestus should not show such abilities in the forge.

That uncomfortable thought never ceased to disturb her. Because of that, she tried to find Gaea again to find the answers she needed, however she just disappeared without a trace.

In the end, she had no choice but to keep her questions to herself, waiting for the day when Gaea would appear before her again and once more she could get the answers she needed.

"Mother!" Hera's thoughts were completely interrupted when the door to her room was opened and with that she could hear a cheerful voice call out to her. This voice caused a beautiful smile to bloom unconsciously on Hera's face.

The blue eyes of the Queen of Olympus immediately turned to her son's body, quickly noticing a small wooden box beautifully decorated. Her eyes flashed with curiosity at the sight of it, but her curiosity was quickly suppressed.

Hera was quick to open her arms and Hephaestus was even quicker to reach out to her and receive a loving embrace as his mother placed a warm kiss on his forehead.

"I have to assume that the reason for your tardiness is because of that wooden box, isn't it?" she asked calmly and with slight curiosity.

Hephaestus nodded quickly, "It's a gift for you" he explained as he firmly held the wooden box.

Hera's gaze was filled with affection as soon as she heard Hephaestus' response. Although she received gifts from Hephaestus on a constant basis, whenever she received a new one she was delighted and touched by her son's affection.

"This is something that will make you remember me every time you see it" Hephaestus quickly commented with a smile. Which caused him to receive a round of warm kisses all over his face.

Hera stopped after a short period of time and proceeded to take a more comfortable position and then opened the wooden box.

The Queen of Olympus observed a beautiful bracelet made of pure gold that had the presence of a jewel that could only be found in the depths of the ocean. The bracelet had highly detailed traces all over its surface that ended up forming the beautiful figure of a peacock.

"It's beautiful" sincere words left Hera's lips.

Such words made a sigh of relief leave Hephaestus' lips; it was impossible for him to maintain his confidence in his creations when it came to his mother's opinion. Now that he knew that she liked his gift, he could have some peace of mind.

With extreme gentleness, Hephaestus took the bracelet from his mother's delicate but strong hands and looked at her with expectant eyes. Hera quickly understood her son's actions, so she immediately extended her right hand.

Hephaestus gently placed the bracelet on his mother's wrist. Afterwards, he watched as it became even more beautiful as it was worn by the person for whom it had been created.

It was a feeling of joy mixed with pride hundreds of times greater than he usually felt at the moment of finishing his creations.

The Queen of Olympus watched with love the gift she received from Hephaestus, without hesitation she pulled her son to her chest at the same time she began to lovingly caress his grayish hair.

"I love it, thank you so much for giving me such a wonderful gift" Hera said softly.

A smile formed on Hephaestus' face as he tried to respond to his mother's embrace with his little arms, once he succeeded he comfortably laid his head on his mother's soft chest.

Hera didn't take long to start humming a soft melody, "You have worked hard" she mentioned when she saw the tired look of the little god, "You can rest now" she finished saying.

After his mother's words, it didn't take long for Hephaestus to fall asleep. A short time later Hera followed her son's example. Neither of them stopped hugging the other during the course of the night, sleeping in this way made them feel a sense of love and protection.