A Weapon of His Own

Achilles and Soban went to the city of Hephaestus, Vulcan, to get his weapon crafted immediately. There were large mines that led deep into the mountain. There were large black towers with plumes of black smoke billowing out of them. In the windows were bright orange lights of the fires smelting materials for Hephaestus.

"This place is terrifying. Where are all the citizens?" Soban asked as he stuck close to Achilles.

"This is a working town, no one lives here," Achilles responded.

They walked for a few minutes before being greeted by a servant of Hephaestus. He wore a brilliant looking armor without a head piece.

"Come this way, young demigod," he said.

They were led to a very small building that had a few tools in it and a small old man sleeping on a small bed.

"Hephaestus, they have arrived," the servant said and walked away from the room.

Hephaestus slowly woke up and scratched his balding head. He turned to face Soban and looked him over with a smile, revealing his absence of several teeth.

"So you defeated the Colchian dragon, eh?" Hephaestus said, his voice whiny and old.

"Yes, Lord Hephaestus," Soban said and pointed to the dragon on his neck.

Soban wondered how this man was part of the high Olympian group. He looked so frail and old.

"I can tell you are confused by my appearance, don't pay attention to it, in reality I'm even more powerful than Hades, Poseidon and Hera. Even Zeus would have a hard time with me, if I wanted to go all out," Hephaestus said.

Soban had a hard time believing that but he didn't outwardly question it. He quickly reached into his pouch and handed Hephaestus the paper to order a weapon.

"Okay, so what do you want?" Hephaestus asked with a moan, very bored by the task.

"I want a-" Soban stopped himself.

He didn't say anything for a few seconds then teleported his crook and flail to him.

"Well, I have this weapon crafted by Ptah and I thought that you could make something better but I wasn't sure you could," Soban said.

Hephaestus stared at the crook and flail and anger grew on his face.

"Wasn't sure?! Clearly a cheap taunt but I don't care!" Hephaestus yelled.

Soban nodded and cracked a smile.

"That failure Ptah could only make something of this level? I'll craft you a weapon better than anything that loser could ever build," Hephaestus yelled.

Achilles shook his head at Soban. Hephaestus quickly turned around grabbed a hammer and a chest under his bed. He smashed the lock with his hammer and pulled out a large black cube with white lines flowing through it. He took a chisel and hammered a tiny piece of the block off and put the cube back in the box and a lock appeared back on the box.

"Come back next week and I will have your weapon ready, you might as well throw that one away, you won't need it anymore. The scrap pile is to your right, outside the door," Hephaestus said.

Soban accepted this and walked out with Achilles.

"You are a dirty trickster, you know that," Achilles said.

"It's what I'm best at," Soban said and chuckled.

The servant that guided them to Hephaestus returned to them once more.

"Come, I'll take you to a place where you can stay for a week," he said.

A huge eruption of fire came from Hephaestus' room. Soban turned back and he closed his eyes to shield himself from the light and he heard hammer strikes against metal. With every hammer strike a huge blast followed.

"Take us there," Achilles said, not paying attention to the blaze behind them.

Achilles jerked Soban out of his amazement with a nudge and they followed the servant to a small room. There was only enough room for two beds and one lantern. It was more like a tube than a room.

"How about we work in the mines for seven days straight, sounds like good training, eh?" Soban asked.

Achilles started to stretch and he pondered the idea. Seconds later he smiled and nodded.

"I'll take you out to eat at any place you want if you get half as much material as I do," Achilles said.

"Nah, if I get half as much as you I want to join my friends in the traveling circus from the city of Theseus," Soban said.

"No way, you just met those freaks," Achilles said.

"Please, Achilles?" Soban begged.

"I don't see what will be beneficial in you doing that," Achilles said bluntly.

"I just want to have some fun. They said they will get a pass to come up to the city of Mars so I won't have to travel to Theseus," Soban said quickly.

Achilles groaned then sighed. He looked at Soban for a long time before coming to a conclusion.

"I'll think about it," Achilles said.

"Ugh, that's good enough for now," Soban groaned.

"For now, you better focus on getting half the material I gather."

"I'll beat you."

"If you beat me I'll let you be a part of the circus," Achilles said confidently.

Achilles scoffed and walked with Soban towards the mines. Giants wrapped with chains and large buckets full of metal ore were walking out of a large tunnel that burrowed into the mountain. Soban stopped at the entrance and smiled. He bent down and grabbed a scrap of metal on the ground. After examining it for a few moments he took out his crook and made a massive cube of the same material. A giant came by and picked it up quickly.

"Looks like I only have to spend my god energy to make cubes and mine ore while I recover the energy," Soban said.

"One of these days your tricks won't work," Achilles said.

"That'll be the day you'll actually need to help me out," Soban replied with a smirk.

Achilles chuckled and his golden robe turned into a spectacular looking armor with two massive chisels. He quickly ran into the tunnels and began digging through rock with ease. Soban turned to the servant that brought them to the house.

"Have the giants bring the material we both mine to individual spots," Soban ordered.

The servant barked something to the giants and they all nodded. The cube Soban made was put in an empty lot. Soban created twenty more massive cubes and they were all put into the lot. He attempted to create more but couldn't. He quickly ran down into the mine and started to smash the walls with his flail, slowly mining ore.

An hour later he came out and saw a pile just as big as his. He froze in awe and saw Achilles charge back into the mine at amazing speed. He quickly took out his crook and created many more cubes. After he spent his energy he quickly ran back into the caves.

This process repeated for days and at the end, both piles were equal in size. Achilles stood on top of his without even looking tired. Soban had one handful of material on him and he was crawling to his pile.

"One minute left!" Achilles yelled cockily.

Soban struggled to continue forward.

"Looks like it will be a tie!" Achilles continued.

Soban stopped moving.

"Seven…Six…Five…" Achilles yelled.

Soban instantly rose to his feet and created another huge cube with his crook. He sent it away with a flick of his flail and it landed gently next to his pile. Achilles stood still, confused by what just happened. He jumped down to meet Soban who was walking with a smile on his face. Soban started to speak but collapsed. Achilles shot forward and caught him mid fall.

"I'm going to take him to his room," Achilles said to the servant.

"Do as you wish, but, Hephaestus is less than an hour away from finishing the weapon and he will want to see it tested right away," the servant replied.

"He only needs half that time to recover; he is a powerful demi-god."

The servant bowed and walked away. Achilles left and went to their tiny room. He set the sleeping Soban down gently and sat down to rest on the other bed. He looked Soban over quickly, his injuries sustained by mining healed quickly.

"Kid, you are going to be a very dangerous person when you have a few more years of training. What you don't know is that I really want to see you beat me. I can't wait for that day, but I don't know why. Maybe it's because you have helped me this past year more than I have helped you," Achilles said.

Achilles began nervously rubbing his hands together.

"I lost my kid to your father Set in the recent war. Training you has allowed me to let go of this and in the process I realized how fun you are. Ah, what am I doing? You can't even hear me," Achilles said and left the room to stand at the door and stood there until Soban woke up a half an hour later.

"Did I win?" Soban asked drearily.

Soban sat up and slowly got out of his bed and left the room. Achilles put his hand on Soban's head and smiled.

"By your tricks, yes," Achilles replied.

Soban smiled wide and he hopped up and down.

"Does that mean I c-"

Soban was cut off by a loud yell. Achilles quickly stood in front of his student. In the distance they saw Hephaestus slowly walking towards him. He had two small objects in his hand.

"It's complete!" Hephaestus roared.

Soban ran to Hephaestus with a wicked grin almost painted on his face. He greeted Hephaestus with a bow and waited to be given the weapon.

"Here you are, young man," Hephaestus said and held out his hands.

In his hands were two bracelets. One was silver and the other was obsidian colored. Hephaestus locked both of them to Soban's wrists. Soban looked them over with skepticism then looked at Hephaestus. Hephaestus was filled with glee at what he had just created and it was visible on his face.

"What is it?" Soban asked.

"This weapon is called Erephos. Activate it by clashing the rings together," Hephaestus said quickly.

Soban did just that and metal shot from the rings and formed an intricate design around his arms. It was a mechanical looking armor. It connected at his chest and wrapped around his shoulder blades as well.

"That wasn't shocking at all," Soban said sarcastically.

He looked over his new armor with confusion. He clenched and unclenched his hands and loud hisses came from the armor's joints. Soban looked inside the spaces in the armor and noticed many small gears all working in unison. Soban swung his arm to the side quickly and was sent flying through the air. He tumbled end over end for hundreds of feet before he was caught by Hephaestus. Soban was bewildered by what just happened. The power in the arms was hard to control. Hephaestus floated down with Soban in his arms and set him down next to Achilles.

"Lower your god energy output to adjust the power of the arms," Hephaestus explained.

"No disrespect, lord Hephaestus, but that's information I needed earlier," Soban said while concentrating to lower his output of god energy.

"Then I better explain it a bit more. First off, I created this with a piece of solidified chaos so this is a dark magic weapon, the opposite of Achilles light magic armor. This armor I made very special, it has two great hidden abilities," Hephaestus explained while giddily staring at his creation.

A long spear appeared in the hand of Hephaestus. He pointed the weapon at Soban's chest.

"This is Gungnir, the spear of Odin. Ares brought this here recently. Now I shall demonstrate your new weapon's greatest ability," Hephaestus said.

He pushed the spear forward and it started to fuse with the armor. Soban gasped in fear as the weapon was eaten by the armor. The armor grew slightly and it hummed loudly.

"Punch Achilles in the face. Achilles, dodge the punch," Hephaestus ordered bluntly.

Soban smiled, jumped and threw a punch. Achilles effortlessly dodged by leaning backwards. In a flash Soban's body lurched forward and the punch hit Achilles in the face and sent him flying backwards. He recovered and landed on the ground gracefully.

"Try that again," Achilles ordered angrily.

Soban was slightly nervous now but threw a punch anyway. Achilles leaned back again and Soban's armor lurched forward. In a blaze of movement, Achilles spun past Soban and the armor followed instantly. In anger, Achilles threw a punch of his own at the chest piece of the armor. Soban was blasted back but landed on his feet.

"When thrown, Gungnir will hit the target no matter what, unless acted against physically. This armor can absorb weapons and use their abilities," Hephaestus explained.

Soban shivered with excitement and looked at his armor-covered hands.

"Oh, one more thing before you go, the last ability. The more weapons you absorb the larger the armor gets. Even I don't know what it will be like when the armor is completed but I have a feeling that this is my ultimate creation. Take that Ptah, you cranky loser," Hephaestus said.

"Is there any way to take the weapons out?" Soban asked.

"Yes, just pull it out of the chest piece while thinking about it," Hephaestus said and turned away.

Hephaestus walked away and disappeared. Soban slapped his wrists together and the mechanical armor returned to the bracelets. He looked up at Achilles and smiled.

"Now, let us go to Neptune city," Achilles said.

"Race you up the mountain!" Soban yelled and took off.

Achilles shook his head and ran after him.