The Tinkerer

The face killed the moment.

Between the thirty-foot thrones and the constellation carpet, Jack couldn't decide which was more fascinating. He decided to settle on the thrones. Round the enormous room, they were positioned in a U-shape with each throne possessing its own individual design although some more grand than most.

At the opposite side of the room, starting the train of thrones, were probably the two most magnificent. The first and definitely the largest was made entirely out of black marble. On the edges, armrest and just above where a thirty-foot giant would rest his head was lined with what Jack thought was gold. At the base of the throne, seven steps led up to the seat. Looking carefully, Jack identified each one as a different color of the rainbow. The throne itself radiated pure power that drew Jack in.

"Good to know he fixed it," Zeus mumbled in his head, admiring his former seat.

The throne next to it was made of ivory, with glowing crystals embedded above the headrest and around the base. On the armrests, Jack noticed white peacock feathers rising from either side. Then right above the throne was a crescent, which seemed to be made out of crystals as well.

Right next to it was a throne made out of bright green malachite. At the base, vines and tree roots intertwined to make it almost look like a mini-sized jungle wanted to sprout out from there. Beside that was a silver-grey throne lined with two stone gorgon heads at each end of its armrest. Perched on top of it was a grey eagle that should have been made purely out of stone, but Jack could swear its eyes moved.

Next was a throne made out of what Jack assumed to be aquamarine. The deep blue color seemed to be tainted by a faint golden glow and a white dove carved in the middle of the headrest. After that was the final throne on the right side of the room. It was another silver throne, but instead of the owl, a full moon with twenty-one carved rays pointing out glowed above it. The seat itself was draped with some sort of fur he couldn't make out.

On the left side, right after Zeus' throne, was the second-largest throne Jack had seen. Like Zeus' throne, it was made of marble, except instead of black, it was grey and white with green streaks running all around it. One armrest was shaped like a seahorse, while the other looked like a squirming eel. The seat also had gold and coral pearls embedded at the base of the throne and above the headrest. It was the only other throne with steps leading up to it, only they were three this time and made out of pure emeralds.

Following it was something that resembled machinery instead of a throne. While it was made from materials Jack couldn't pinpoint, seeing as they were so many, he spotted gears in an opening at the base of the throne. Not only that but focusing on it and straining his ears, he could make out a light hum.

The next one was bronze with two human skulls at the end of either arm of the chair. It was the blandest throne Jack had seen yet. The one after was thankfully more impressive, nearly blinding Jack before his eyes could adjust to the sharp glow. Once they settled, he realized it was made from gold and it had been thoroughly polished, hence the overwhelming glow. Like the silver throne with the full moon above it, this one also had a disc on top, except it resembled the sun with its golden glow. Also, like the moon disc, this one had twenty-one rays carved into it.

The penultimate throne was like bronze. Plain and simple, but made of spotlessly white stone. And then the last was formed from grapevines. It was weaved perfectly and the throne looked extremely sturdy.

Gaping at the gigantic seats in amazement, it was hard for him to bring his eyes down to a towering man who had just stepped out from behind one of the thrones. Forcing himself to look at the seat that sounded like a generator, Jack watched as he approached.

The man was nearly as tall as Steropes but instead of the cyclops' ragged toga, the man was bare-chested under a dirty black apron. In fact, his entire body looked like it had been thrown inside tar and grime and then rinsed with oil. He wore long grey pants and no shoes, which repulsed Jack because his toes were massive and had warts all over them. He walked in some sort of odd limp as if he was in pain, but Jack could tell he wasn't from his expression. But then again, Jack found it hard to look at his face properly to make out what he was thinking.

Now Jack usually despised insulting a person's facial appearance and liked to say, 'Everyone was made in his own special way'.

The man in front of him was either overly special or must've had his face restructured because it was disfigured badly. His eyes were too far up his head, while his nose was too close to his overly thick lips. His ears were twisted as if someone was trying to form a spiral with them. He had pimples all over his face and a very unkempt beard that had grown past his kneck. As for his hair, he was completely bald and oddly fine with showing his glean bald head, even with the massive scar Jack saw trailing from between his eyes, up into his clean skull.

"Hephaestus," Newt managed from his side.

Blinking twice, Jack remembered he had come to the massive dome with two other people. He mentally kicked himself for letting his mind wander over the beauty of the rooms and forgetting what had happened previously.

"He's the blacksmith god?" Sharina asked from beside him, all watching as he shrunk down to their size as he neared them.

"Indeed I am," Hephaestus answered, sounding exhausted. "Now come, time is running out."