Hephaestus

Hephaestus. The son of Hera, Queen of the Gods. He was conceived by Hera using her own power. She impregnated herself.

The Queen of Gods had many dreams and expectations for her unborn son, the most important of which was that he be as beautiful as she was. Her dreams, however, were shattered after she gave birth to Hephaestus, who turned out to be nothing short of a monstrosity in her eyes.

In rage and dismay, Hera bodily tossed Hephaestus over Mount Olympus, permanently crippling him.

Hephaestus was still a god despite being a new born, and thus the memories of Hera's cruelty were etched deeply into his divine mind.

The baby Hephaestus fell into the sea and was saved and raised by Thetis, a loving nereid who took Hephaestus in without prejudice.

The God of Fire and Forges grew up on the island of Lemnos, which was noted for its active volcanoes, and made it his home and forges.

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Soon, Hephaestus rose to prominence in the realms of gods due to his unrivalled skill in forging, which was lauded by certain gods, even dwarfing the dwarfs of Nidavellir. His meteoric rise was only surpassed by Apollo, the Eternal Blazing Sun.

Despite everything, Hephaestus was solely focused on creating his masterpieces, with little regard for the world around him. But still, the memories of his mother's cruelty always haunted him. It also made him look forward to his return to Olympus.

______________________

Lemnos, Greece.

Under the shade of a tree, Apollo and Artemis sat holding numerous jet-black and purplish-blue metal bars in their hands, infusing their powers into it.

"Are you sure about this?" Artemis inquired, her gaze fixed on the two metals. "He told us repeatedly to pick one of the metals and leave the other."

"This is the better way." Apollo said nonchalantly, raising his brows.

Artemis drawled. "He's not going to take this well at all.."

Apollo remained silent, intent on infusing energy into the metal bars, claiming it as his own.

The metals were Adamantine and Vibranium, two of the strongest metals in existence. It was supplied by the Olympian Pantheon, who obtained it through trade and exchange with the other Pantheons in order to forge their weapons. He was infusing his powers into both of them in preparation for the forging.

And why both of them? He intended to create a metal that was said to be the most indestructible in all of existence.

It was the Proto-Adamantine.

The metal will be developed in the future by combining Adamantine and Vibranium. And it was all used to create the shield of Captain America. The metal was then never able to be re-created.

Apollo was unsure whether he would be successful in creating it.

Proto-Adamantine was created entirely by accident. Vibranium and Adamantium had extremely different properties, rendering their combination virtually impossible, except for once with Proto-Adamantium. It was due to this sheer impossibility that Hephaestus insisted on them choosing one of the two.

However, Apollo wished to gamble. It will be his weapon, and he will carry it with him for the rest of his life. He certainly desired it to be the best.

And, he wasn't blindly diving into this. He had some confidence. It was his order authority. But whether he can succeed is still in question. Even his divination into the situation yielded no results. He still decided, though, to go forward with it and also instructed his sister to do it as well.

His sister was right about one thing: Hephaestus would not be pleased at all.

Hephaestus, the God of Fire and Forge, actually wasn't ugly at all. In Olympus, the rumours were truly overblown, virtually portraying him as an abomination.

Hephaestus had a rough and hairy appearance. His look, however, would be nothing out of the ordinary in modern civilisation. But, when the pride and standards of gods are taken into account, who expects everything to be perfect, especially Hera. So, Hephaestus was deemed an abomination and thrown from Olympus by her.

Aside from his physical appearance, Hephaestus was a pragmatic, cynical, and proud man, especially when it came to his work. He literally boasted about it to them all night.

Apollo and others met Hephaestus two days ago after Athena revealed that Zeus had ordered their weapons to be formed by Hephaestus, the upstart forging god, rather than the Elder Cyclopes, who forged the master bolt.

They arrived on the Lemnos island and met Hephaestus, who knew all of them based on their names. However, he didn't really seem to care that much.

And he was pretty blatant too, outright rejecting the order of Zeus, turning and leaving without a care for them. The hatred and anger of Hephaestus were evident to him.

Hera truly did Hephaestus dirty as a mother.

Apollo, on the other hand, was unconcerned about his rejection. As Hephaestus stormed away, Athena pulled out the letter that she carried with her. It was a letter from Zeus himself. He saw through the content in the beginning, through his authority of light.

The letter was brief and to the point. It delivered a few false words of consolation for Hephaestus' unfortunate condition. Then he made a point of expressing how this injustice had just been brought to his attention. Finally, Zeus summoned Hephaestus back to the Olympus saying that it was his true home and also promised him a place on the Olympus Council.

Zeus undoubtedly coveted Hephaestus' loyalty since a divine forger is rare, and a divine forger with the talent of Hephaestus was almost non-existent in the realm of gods.

Apollo observed Hephaestus as he read the letter. He was blatant in his feelings. The God of Forges was indifferent throughout it, his expression only collapsing at the call of Zeus. His eyes twinkled with thirst, a thirst for vengeance. It was pretty evident, at least for Apollo.

Then, Hephaestus reluctantly accepted Zeus' order for their weapons, knowing that it would not go well with Zeus if he still opposed his request. Finally, grumpily, he invited all of them to his house.

Then, unsurprisingly, Hephaestus and Athena hit it off. They went on and on about the craft, arguing and sharing. At the end of it, Apollo is sure that Hephaestus has developed a fling for Athena...

Putting aside his thoughts, Apollo focused on the last metal bar, which was shrouded in golden light. He finished it.

He then said as he hurled the metal bar behind him with the others. "I am done."

"Give me a second. I am nearly there," Artemis murmured swiftly as she poured even more of her power into the metal bar. "Then we can both go."

"I am all for waiting." Apollo said. Then, he turned, leaving his sister to concentrate and focusing instead on the stacks of glowing metal. His golden eyes were flooded with darkness, turning them a dark gold colour. While swirling marbles in his hands, he began using his order authority to see through the order in the structure of the metals.

Time marched on. Artemis finished her metals, engulfing them all in a silvery radiance. "We can go now."

Apollo stood up and waved his hand, nodding. Light lifted all of their metals into the air. He then offered his hand to Artemis, who caught it.

They vanished, taking the metals with them, in a blinding flash of light.

_____________________

Under the active volcano of Milos, within the dark and molten walls, lay the forge, the forge of Hephaestus.

As the light faded, Apollo and Artemis dropped onto the sweltering ground. In front of them was a metal door embedded in literal flowing magma.

Without wasting any time, Apollo opened the door and entered with his sister, unaffected by the scorching heat coursing through the air.

BANG!

A booming sound greeted them, and they saw Hephaestus pounding his massive hammer, which was twice his size, on the furnace, creating sparks. Athena stood near him, her face inquisitive, observing a forged piece of equipment which resembled a sundial.

She turned towards the door, noticing their entrance.

"That took you both long enough." Hephaestus spoke in a gruff tone, dropping the hammer and wiping sweat and grime from his brow without looking at them.

"Oh.." Athena glanced at the shimmering metals. "You did not..."

Hephaestus' eyes widened as he snapped his gaze to the metals. He stormed toward them, his crippled leg seemed to have no effect on his speed.

"What did I say?" Standing in front of them, Hephaestus bellowed. "You two had one..."

"It was me." Apollo spoke up without letting his sister a chance to take the fall.

Hephaestus cocked his head. "Yes. Who else could it be, if not the arrogant and prideful Apollo, who thinks that the world around him?"

"In fact, the world does revolve around me." Apollo said simply, getting an elbow from his sister.

"You think you are smart?" Hephaestus barked and pointed his finger at him. "No, Apollo. You're not even close. You are nothing more than a fool." He walked behind them, seizing Vibranium and Adamantine bars.

"Calm down, Hephaestus." From the side, Athena said, but the god of forges ignored her.

He emphasised by placing the bar in front of Apollo's face.

"These are Vibranium and Adamantine, two of the strongest metals known in existence. Do you realise how rare this is? I spent years forging just to get my hands on a single bar. But you wasted it." He peered into Apollo's placid eyes. "And here you are, standing before me as if you've accomplished something."

"Given your brilliant mind, who knows, you might say that we should combine Vibranium and Adamantine..."

"Yes." Apollo nodded and continued, not wanting to make matters worse. "Believe me on this, Hephaestus. You should have seen through my intentions. This may appear to be impossible. But trust me, with me, we could fuse Adamantine and Vibranium."

"You are really serious, aren't you?" Hephaestus laughed, as if finding the entire situation ridiculous.

Athena and Artemis just stood on the side-lines, watching their confrontation without interfering, as it would do no good other than pour oil on an already blazing fire.

"I am dead serious." Apollo looked at the God of Forge, emphasising each word.

"This is a fool's errand from beginning to end," Hephaestus said as he returned his gaze to the Eternal Blazing Sun. "Even with your supposed might, it will not change."

Apollo stated solemnly. "It's your wish, Hephaestus. You can either accept or reject me. And I'll leave with the metals to look for other divine forgers, or you can believe me and we'll make history."

"Who knows, maybe you, Hephaestus, may get to forge the weapons that will go on to become the strongest in all of existence?" He shrugged nonchalantly.

Hephaestus sighed as he looked at his deadly solemn visage, then at the shining metals in silence.

"The tales duped you, Apollo. Your arrogance and vanity know no bounds at all."

"This is not arrogance." Apollo smiled. "It's confidence."

Hephaestus cackled, and his laughter was so loud that it rattled the entire volcano.

"Come on, Apollo. Don't make me regret this in the end."

"I won't." Apollo chuckled, "Hephaestus, this is just the start of the rise."

"Let's see about that." Hephaestus said, his laughter dying away.