Chapter 8

POV: Perseus Heitor Jackson

I've been living here on Olympus for a month now, I'm getting beaten like a convict, I can't even hit Ares with a punch, and he almost kills me with his powerful blows, every day it's the same, but I'm getting better, at least I think so, I'm already mastering lightning very well, and my strength like that of Heracles is getting greater and greater, I can already pick up a 200 kg stone and lift it over my head, and with my powers from Hestia, I'm still learning, but she's taught me a lot, I already know how to materialize any kind of food, I still can't teleport with fire properly, but soon I'll be able to teleport, throw fireballs, I can fly for a while, basically levitate a few meters off the ground, I talk to almost all animals of prey, they respect me and obey my orders, with horses, Pegasi, with some marine animals, I'm doing much better at archery, Apollo and I are great friends and he told me that he's going to take me to a place called a nightclub, to teach me the ropes about women, I didn't really know what that meant, what it was exactly, so without meaning to, I ended up commenting on it to Hera and well, let's just say that Apollo didn't get on very well.

Flashback

"But what? He didn't do that." Hera said incredulously, her face turning red. "Another one of those kids is going to see me, and this is it." I had just told her what Apollo had said to me, that he was going to take me to a place called the nightclub, to teach me some tricks, as I didn't understand, I asked Hera, she knows about things, she always teaches me what I don't know. She left huffing and puffing, walking quickly, so I ended up going with her, when we arrived at Apollo's palace, entering the door uninvited, something she said we shouldn't do, never enter a place uninvited, but she wasn't doing what she said. Apollo was sitting watching a basketball game on TV, and he looked at us a little surprised.

"Hi, Hera..." Apollo started to say, but was interrupted when Hera grabbed his ear and started dragging him closer to me. "OW,OW,OW..." Apollo groaned as Hera let go of his ear, it was very red, and he began to massage his ear and look indignantly at Hera. "What have I done now, Hera? For you to grab me by the ear like that, it's like I'm 10 years old."

"What did you do? I'll tell you what you've done, you denatured, twisted, depraved, how you tell a 4-year-old boy, 4-year-old boy, that you're going to take him to a nightclub, a nightclub, Apollo." She said angrily, slapping him on the arm.

"Damn it Percy, why did you finger me like that?" He asked, looking at me indignantly, but I was just as confused as he was, I had no idea that a nightclub was a place that made people angry, let alone that it would get Apollo in trouble.

"I'm sorry, man, I didn't know it was a bad thing, that I couldn't tell Hera."

"Don't apologize, Percy, you always have to tell me things, everything, you can't hide anything, it's wrong to hide and lie." Said Hera looking at me warmly, in response, I just nodded positively at her. Then she turned to Apollo. "And you, you pervert, you are forbidden to be near Perseus on your own, you don't go near Perseus anymore, except to teach him archery and supervised by one of my subjects and if you get one more finger out of line, I'll cut your precious little friend off and never let it grow again." Of all that they were saying, I understood almost nothing, but this final part I knew what it meant, so even I paled, but Apollo became transparent. "Let's go, you're too pure to be in the company of that misguided god, Perseus." And without saying another word, he marched off. I looked at Apollo and said:

"I'm sorry, I'll try to help you." I said with my head down, I bet Apollo is furious with me. "I'm really sorry, I didn't know it would come to this."

"Hey, relax, man." He smiled and squeezed my shoulder. "I know I didn't mean it, I should have explained a bit better, but don't worry about Hera's threats, if she cuts my friend down here, he'll grow back and even bigger." He winked and laughed, and I followed him. Then he ruffled my hair. "Also, the proposal still stands, but that's for when you understand a few things."

"PERSEUS." I heard Hera shouting my name.

"Now go, before she comes back here and finishes us both off." I nodded and ran after her.

Flashback end

This week I'm going to spend with Hephaestus, in one of his forges, soon, he's going to come by to pick me up, I hope it's going to be a very fun week, Hephaestus seems like a very nice god to me. Although he and Aphrodite are still "fighting", only now they've swapped roles, as I heard Hera say once to Demeter, Hephaestus goes out with all the women and Aphrodite keeps running after him, she doesn't cheat on him anymore, he still wants a divorce, but from what I understood when Hera explained it to me, she being the goddess of marriage, she can't separate two gods that she herself brought together, except when they both want it, so she needs the consent of both, and Aphrodite doesn't want to consent, but that doesn't mean that Hephaestus has to live with her, but he can't marry another Goddess, and Hera told me that after the meetings she has in Olympus, Aphrodite goes to their Palace, and she cries for hours and hours, because now he doesn't even bother to argue with her, she tries to get his attention in every way, she fights with him, she talks to him, but he doesn't even talk to her, this frustrates her a lot. I'm brought out of my thoughts when Hephaestus arrives.

POV: Hephaestus

Well, Aphrodite doesn't want to sign the divorce, she says that she loves me and that she won't cheat on me anymore, and that she wants me back, she says that she knows that I still love her, and that I'll never stop loving her, she's not completely right, I still love her and it's true, I can't deny it, but I know that I'll stop loving her. Today I'm here in Olympus for something special, I've come to pick up little Percy to start his training, I'm looking forward to training him, something about him catches my attention, but the downside is that Aphrodite knows I've come to pick him up today and you can probably imagine the scene she's going to make. I was walking to Hera's Palace, then I remembered that the present I wanted to give Percy was here in my Palace on Olympus.

"Damn, but that's one to brighten my day." I said to myself, my mother said that Aphrodite never leaves my Palace, which was once ours, I don't think she ever loved me, but from what I heard, she broke up with Ares, but that's still not enough for me to believe in her, I don't think anything is enough for me to believe in that goddess once again. I arrive at my palace, and I'm not surprised by what I see, everything has been destroyed, all the furniture and inventions, everything, and to make matters worse, I felt that Aphrodite was there, she must have taken out her anger on my things, but that's okay, I have lots of other things, but the present had to be in our old room, damn it. I went to the door and found a rather embarrassing and unprecedented scene, almost hard to believe, Aphrodite in my bed, naked and masturbating, she never masturbated, if she felt like it, which was almost all the time, she would just go and have sex, that's it, I bet there's no shortage of people to have sex with her, but she was there, with her finger, enjoying herself, until I heard something incredible, she moaned a name.

"Ahaahhh... Hephaestus." I love it when she moans my name, panting and sweaty like that, she must have been at it for hours. I shook my head, pushing those thoughts away, so I went into the bedroom, she was still with her eyes closed moaning my name softly, I wouldn't miss this opportunity. I sniffled loudly and she looked at me startled for a second, then smiled and came up to me, putting her hand on my arm, I gently pushed her away and looked into her eyes and said:

"Why don't you give it to Ares?"

"Don't talk to me like that." She demanded angrily. "As if I were anyone else, I broke up with him for you."

"I doubt it, the most that could have happened is that you got sick of him and wanted another god to give him to, I think Zeus or Poseidon are the ones you need, right? Or perhaps you'd like one of those who've already given you a deal, Apollo, Hermes, Dionysus, you've already given them all."

"Don't talk like that, I just want you." She said angrily, and I had to laugh.

"I only served to clear your backlog and make magnificent jewelry for you to wear, but nothing, apart from, of course, showing your demigod sons and daughters how to mistreat and deceive those who love you." She looked at me with tears in her eyes, pretending to start crying. "You deserve to go to Tartarus."

"Stop it. I love you so much, Hephaestus."

"How many children did you have with my BROTHERS? About six, and me? None." I said angrily. "You never loved me, every time we were together, I wanted a child, but you never let me, you said it wasn't time and I, a sucker who thought it was nice, cool, accepted." I said through my teeth, hating how many times I'd forgiven that worthless traitor. "You know why I like Perseus, because he looks like me, dumb, naive, foolish." She looked down, feeling very ashamed. "Please, I want a divorce."

"I can't give you that, I love you, I love you more than anything, you stupid blacksmith." She said, crying.

"I know, you love me very much." I said with disdain and sarcasm.

"I am the Goddess of love, I know what LOVE is." She shouted the final part, but I had to laugh at her, I almost rolled on the floor with laughter. "Why are you laughing, you heartless brute?"

"Me, heartless?" I asked indignantly, although I was still laughing a lot. "No more arguments, you're not even worth my time, I only came here to get something, to say that I want a divorce and that's that."

"I'm not going to give you a divorce." She denied it again. "You only have two options, the first is to come back to me and the second is to take me back."

"THERE'S NO GOING BACK, GODDESS."

"YES." She shouted, standing in front of me, staring me in the eye without fear. "You've always loved me and you still love me, I know that."

"Yes, I love you." She smiled and came close again, but I moved back. "But do you want to know why I'm going to learn not to love you anymore?"

"You won't be able to, you'll never forget me, Hephaestus."

"Stop the drama, you've been married to me for millennia, and you've never appreciated me and you've betrayed me many times, even with my brothers, and you've never wanted to have a child of my own, but of all my brothers that you've given, you've also given them children." He said with hatred, going over to her, and she was falling backwards, until she bumped into the bed and fell on it. "I'm disgusted and ashamed to say that I was married to you, you slimy, whoring goddess. And if you don't give me a divorce by next year, I'm going to declare war on you, you understand, I want you to fuck off, and if anyone ever reminds me that I was married to you, I'll kill them, I'm happier to say that I was thrown off Olympus by my mother, than to say that I was married to such a petty, stupid, and MOST UNHAPPY GODDESS IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE." She was crying a lot and lying on my bed.

"You also cheated on me, and had many children."

"I only cheated on you because...." I stopped myself, she didn't deserve my justification. "You know what? I want you to fuck off, I don't owe you an explanation. The message has been given. And I'm only going to say the word to you if the subject is divorce." Saying that, she went to the wardrobe and got Percy's present, and when I came back to the room she was standing in front of the door, already dressed, she wasn't looking at me with hatred, just pain.

"You're not going to get your divorce Hephaestus, and I'm only going to leave you alone if you kill me, and I'm going to win you back, whatever it takes and however long it takes." Saying this, she disappeared into a pink light, leaving behind a scent of roses.

"Dream on." She said dismissively. I let an involuntary tear fall, but I quickly wiped it away. I swore by all that is most sacred that I would never answer her again. I went to my mother's palace to pick up Percy, to spend the week with me at one of my favorite forges, I'll only give him the present when I leave. I arrived at the palace and he was already waiting for me, sitting watching TV. He was watching a TV program where a surfing championship was on, he was very focused on the program, he seemed amazed by the surfers on the waves. Looking at him, I couldn't help but notice that he looked a bit like me. "Are you ready, Percy?"

"Yes, Hephaestus." He grimaced and asked. "Well, I can call you that, can't I?"

"Of course you can, Percy." I said, smiling, and he smiled back. "I'm going to take you to a very nice place, one of my favorite forges, it makes me forget my problems and feel free." He smiled and nodded positively. "Take my hand, we'll teleport, and faster."

"As you wish, Hephaestus." He said respectfully, then it was my turn to grimace.

"I, no sir, I'm still young." I laughed and he followed me, I took his hand and teleported us to my forge on a deserted island, with a volcano in the sea, near Manhattan, only I made it invisible to mortals.

"WOW, it's really beautiful, really beautiful." Said Percy in amazement, looking at the beautiful scenery that the island offered us.

"And there are very big waves, after training, we could come surfing, what do you think?"

"Are you going to teach me how to surf like the mortals on TV?" He asked excitedly, and I smiled and nodded. "Very nice."

"Great, but Percy, I wanted to talk to you about something first." He nodded and I continued. "I've been watching you for some time now, your courage and strength amaze me, even for your young age, but I've also noticed that you seem very creative and have a spirit like mine, the spirit of an inventor, perhaps you inherited it from your grandmother, Athena, so I wanted to know, do you want my blessing?"

"Of course I do, it would be an honor, I've always wanted to do things, to create things."

"With my blessing, Percy, you'll be able to do much more than create incredible things." I laughed at his words, but forced myself to become more serious. "You'll have the ability to use practically anything as if it were a battle weapon, all of them, with great mastery, from hammers to the most exquisite swords, a skill that is perfected with the use of the weapon of course, you'll be able to magically summon an animated replica of every weapon you've ever forged in your life, and they'll attack your enemies, and there's also a strong blast of fire that takes over the weapon, being able to burn the opponent when it hits them and many other abilities that I'll help you control. So you really want the blessing?"

"But of course, it would be an honor."

"Great." I smiled, then I sent him the blessing, a red aura, he accepted it, his body glowed slightly pure red for a few moments and then returned to normal. "Come on, let's see what you can do in the forge."

---- Break ----

"Let's start with a sword, which is one of the most sought-after weapons for warriors." I smiled at him, he was very attentive to everything I was saying and doing. I made a sword in front of him, a simple one, just to give him an idea, he looked at everything fascinated and enchanted, when I finished, he looked at the sword, it was simple, nothing much, he was amazed. "Your turn to try." I said, encouraging him. He took the things and started to make them, he was agile and intelligent and made a double-edged Greek-style sword, about 70 cm long, perfect for him, and his height, which was 1 meter and a bit, it was good, and I let him keep it for himself, and I also taught him how to enchant the weapon, the small and simple ritual to transform a weapon into a simple object, he chose a ring, with the drawing of a dragon, I was curious about his choice and asked:

"Why dragon? Percy?"

"They're strong and majestic, and they dominate water, fire, poison, they're incredible animals, all of them." He replied, as if I'd hit him right on the head with his surprise gift.

"That's right, they really are incredible and beautiful creatures."

"Yes they are, and now what are you going to teach me to do?" he asked anxiously. So like that, with a curious little demigod, the days went by, Percy tried in every way to get knowledge out of me, he made me teach him a lot about forging, he had a lot of fun learning, and I had fun teaching him. I left the last day to give him the present and have fun on the island beach with him.

---- Break ----

POV: Perseus Heitor Jackson

The place was amazing, this island was wonderful, and the forge was incredible, I learned how to make a lot of things, it was really great, and there was no deadly pollution, the place was beautiful, lots of animals, away from the forge of course, and since I'm immune to fire I was learning how to make weapons, jewelry and electronic things too, it was really cool, Hephaestus is much more than cool, besides he gave me his blessing, which is very useful, and in addition he gave me a sword that I made myself, a spear of about 2 meters of celestial bronze that I made as well as the sword, and a shield, but this one he made, the spear was a bracelet with a dragon design, you just had to hit it to activate it and the shield was a wristwatch, and since I'm right-handed it stayed on my left arm, and the sword was a dragon ring. All I had to do was turn it and think of it, and the sword would magically appear in my hand, ready for combat. He also gave me a backpack with a handle that would fit everything, and any tool, food and water, all I had to do was ask and it would appear inside it, and it didn't weigh anything, I put two 40 kg stones in it and it disappeared with both of them and didn't increase a gram, this backpack was amazing, and according to Hephaestus he still had the best gift for last, after all the things I'd won, I couldn't believe that I could still win more things. Well, today was my last day with Hephaestus, I was leaving in the evening and heading straight back to Olympus. I'm here in bed thinking about how nice this week has been, and that it ends today. It's 10 minutes before Hephaestus comes to wake me up, he's strict about bedtime and wake-up time, 9.30pm in bed and 6am up, apart from that there are no rules, eat what you want and do what you want after training.

"WAKE UP..." He always comes in screaming and kicking everything, but today I caught him, I was already awake and he wasn't going to scare me. "PERCY WAK... SHIT hahaha. You were already awake."

"I caught you, you screwed up today. MAN." I laughing and mocked him. Hephaestus was wearing black ball shorts and a white tank top that showed off his muscles, he was very strong. I haven't put on any muscle yet, but Hephaestus said that because of my god-like genetics and the power of strength like that of Heracles, I would have a body like his, very muscular.

"You can't play." He said pretending to be angry, but he was already laughing too much to be able to fool anyone. "Come on, today's just going to be fun, after lunch I'm going to pick up two of my mortal friends, I told them I'm god, they're really nice, their names are Cassia and Rebeca.

"All right, the more people the better to have fun with, but come here, they're "friends"." I asked, making quotation marks with the word "friends" and waving my fingers.

"You're too young to be talking like that, boy, if my mother saw you saying that." he scolded me, but laughed and replied. "Let's say you're "friends with benefits", let's go surfing on the beach."

"I'll be ready in a minute!" I jumped out of bed and put on a pair of thin green shorts and a yellow tank top. "I bet I'll beat you to the beach."

"I doubt it." He smiled defiantly, but this trickster didn't wait for me to start counting and ran off like a madman.

"CHEATER." I shouted laughing and ran after him.

"THE WORLD BELONGS TO THE SMARTEST PEOPLE." He shouted back, mocking. We kept running, knocking over various things on the way, and arrived at the beach together and said in unison.

"DRAW!" And we laughed like two hyenas.

"Let's start with your surf lesson." He snapped his fingers and two surfboards appeared out of nowhere, one smaller than the other, they were fire red and very flashy. "Look, you're going to have an easy time of it and you're the son of the god of the sea, so you can't drown, don't be afraid to take a risk and fall into the water, and let's get into the water." He took off running with the bigger board, and I followed with the other. "Just imitate me and it's easy, lie on the board and paddle like a fish, like this." He made the movement and began to paddle towards the bottom, using his hands beside his body, I imitated him and soon I had got the hang of it, he smiled and said. "It's perfect, now we just have to wait for a good wave to come our way." He barely closed his mouth and a wave of about 5 meters formed, coming quickly towards us. "Now we just have to wait and get on the board and ride the wave." I did what he did, he paddled towards the wave and when he got close to it he jumped and stood on the board, I followed him, but I stood for about 10 seconds and fell, sinking with the force of the water. I was breathing and talking normally underwater, I thought it was great, so I got back on the board and looked at Hephaestus and said:

"That was really cool." I exclaimed happily. The day went by quickly, I was already doing well on the waves, I hardly fell off, and Hephaestus was very good, he's known the sport since it was invented, and soon it was time for lunch and Hephaestus said:

"Hey Percy, I'm going to get the girls, I think I'll be back in less than 10 minutes." I nodded positively, and he disappeared in a ball of fire. I want to master the fire teleport derived from Hestia soon, but it's too complicated and tiring. It took a little more than 10 minutes, and he came back with two women, one of them was beautiful, about 1.75cm white, with long black hair, blue eyes, and an athletic body with lots of curves, really very beautiful, I think she must have been about 22 and was wearing a blue thong, underneath she must have been wearing some kind of bikini. The other was very beautiful too, blonde and very white, 1.72cm tall, she must have been about 22 too, she was athletic and had lots of curves, and was wearing a white thong and a black bikini, because of the dress you could see the color, they looked at me and gave radiant smiles and ran towards me and the blonde said:

"Look how cute you are, people, the most beautiful thing, those little sea green eyes, and that messy black hair." She said, squeezing my cheek and messing up my hair, I don't like it when people do that to me. "What's your name and age and who's your divine father or mother, and I'm a history teacher and I want to know, do you understand me? I'm Cassia, by the way." She said quickly, the other girl also knelt down in front of me and kept running her hand through my hair.

"Hello, my name is Rebeca." Said the brunette sympathetically.

"Hi, my name is Perseus Heitor Jackson, but I prefer Percy, and my father is Poseidon, god of the seas, Cassia. And I'm 4 years old, nice to meet you" I said. They kissed me on the cheek and mumbled "it's our pleasure".

"And girls, Percy, he's a demigod and he's very strong, like Heracles or Hercules nowadays." Hephaestus said, they looked at Hephaestus in amazement, and Cassia said:

"Can you show us your strength?" I nodded and picked it up just above the knee and lifted it high with ease, it wasn't heavy at all, and I kept raising and lowering it several times. "Wow, you're really strong."

"And do you have any other powers, Percy?" Rebeca asked, I nodded and she smiled excitedly and asked. "Can you show us? And tell us a bit about yourself?"

"Well, I think so." I said looking at Hephaestus who smiled and nodded.

"If it's all right with you, feel free." He said, sitting down at the table, where there was a large banquet, full of various foods.

"Ok, I lost my mother about a month ago to a monster known as the Minotaur." They gasped in surprise.

"God, what a sad thing." Rebecca said.

"I started developing my skills at that time, I fought and managed to defeat the Minotaur..."

"Stop being modest." Hephaestus interrupted me. "Girls, he was seriously wounded in the shoulder and with his bare hands, he killed the Minotaur."

"WOW." Said Cassia, fascinated, looking at me. "You really are very strong."

"Well, thanks, I guess. So after my mother died, I went to live on Olympus, home of the gods, I live in Hera's palace." Cassia gasped again, only this time she asked.

"But doesn't Hera hate demigods?" She asked incredulously

"Yes and no, she does, but she likes me." I said confusedly, even I didn't really understand why Hera liked me, but I was happy about it, I liked her a lot. "She's like a mother to me, she treats me very well, protects me and teaches me, and I've gained the blessings of other Olympians, like Hephaestus, Zeus, I'm Hestia's champion and Athena's grandson, so these are some of my powers." Saying this, I stepped back a little and threw a fireball into the air, and they gasped. "This one is from Hestia and Hephaestus fire, this one is from Zeus look." I took a moment, they gasped and I threw a bolt of lightning from my hand into the sky. They were wide-eyed and Hephaestus, laughing at their faces, still levitating about a meter off the ground, said. "Now you have my father's powers." Even without training, I had learned a bit on my own, of course, I'm a son of the Sea, I knew I could do it, and I took a quantity of water and started playing with it, froze it into a sword, and took it in my hand. "Well, I'm also the Grandson of Athena, I talk to owls and cause severe headaches, if I want, do you want me to test it on you?" They widened their eyes and nodded frantically, I laughed and said. "Of course I wouldn't use it on you girls, it's just a joke."

"You really are amazing, Percy." Said Rebecca fascinated, Cassia agreed with "of course" and Hephaestus grimaced and said:

"What? I lost you to a boy who doesn't even know what a woman is yet." He said laughing, and the girls followed him, and I froze, of course I knew what a woman was, I'm a descendant of Athena, she taught me about it.

"HEY." I said indignantly "I know what a woman is, I'm the grandson of the Goddess of wisdom." They laughed, and I had an idea. "Now you're screwed, Hephaestus." I mentally told a friend of mine to come here where I was, she said she was on her way. "Are you girls afraid of heights?"

"I'm not." Said Rebecca. "And you Cassia?"

"I'm not either."

"AAA.... come on Percy, that's a lot of appeal! Unfair." Said Hephaestus indignantly. "Then you complicate things for me."

"I'm sorry, she'll be here in just three minutes." He smiled victoriously at Hephaestus.

"Her who?" The two asked in unison.

"You'll see girls." Smiling victoriously, Hephaestus sat back in his chair and said:

"Show off, fish head, you will pay!" Rebeca laughed and sat on his lap and said:

"What's up, little party, you know we love you, don't you? Cassia"

"Of course I do." Said Cassia, massaging his back, he showed me his tongue, just then a dark cloud covered the sky and I heard Pandora in my mind:

"Hello Percy, what did you call me here for?" The girls looked at me and then at the gigantic white owl next to me, too astonished to speak.

"Nothing much Pandora, just for us to fly around a bit, with the girls, is that all right with you?" The girls looked at me in amazement and Hephaestus laughed indignantly and muttered to himself.

"For a four-year-old, for a child." he said laughing.

"Of course, my job is to serve my lord." She replied to my request, I looked at her ugly, she laughed in my head and laughed on the outside. "PERCY, you don´t like formalities"

"Exactly, no formalities." I said seriously, Cassia put her hand on my shoulder and said:

"WOW, you're the master of a giant, white, beautiful owl?"

"Tell her I appreciate it, and that she's beautiful too" Said Pandora in my mind

"We're friends, I don't own her, and she told me that you're very beautiful, and she thanks you for your compliment." She looked at Owl fearfully and said:

"Thank you, Pandora." She said, and Pandora nodded. "Are we going to fly it?"

"If you want, yes, but I'll go with you to talk to her and guide you up there." I said, climbing on top of Pandora and offering Cassia my hand. She took it and I lifted her onto Pandora's back. "Then it's your turn, Rebeca." She nodded and I said mentally. "Pandora, go as slowly as you can Pandora"

"Yes" She answered in my mind, and went up in the air, Cassia grabbed my waist tightly, and stayed like that for a long time, squeezing me and with her eyes closed, I laughed. "Calm down, you can open your eyes now, there's no danger." she obeyed me and gasped.

"Thank you, Percy, that's beautiful." She gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Sorry to ask Cassia, but aren't you jealous of each other with Hephaestus?" I asked, I wasn't very experienced about relationships, of course I was only 4 years old, but I was a descendant of Athena, I always wanted to learn more about things in life.

"Percy, in any case, I'm actually Rebeca's girlfriend." She said seriously, leaving me even more confused, I even knew that there was love between people of the same sex, now love as a threesome? Well, I'm a descendant of Athena, and my grandmother wasn't an expert in this area, but Hera knew a lot about love, I think I'll ask her.

"Wow, that's a new one on me." I finally said.

"Relax, one day you'll discover a lot about life." She replied, laughing, and I nodded. She gave me another kiss on the cheek, she really liked to show affection with kisses. "Percy, I'm sorry to ask about your life, I'm sorry about your mother, she was a demigod like you, a daughter of Athena?"

"Yes, she was great, very strong and powerful, my grandmother Athena told me that she was the most powerful daughter she ever had, the most knowledgeable." I smiled proudly. "But she went to defend me from a hellhound, who bit me on the shoulder, she killed him, but she got distracted and the Minotaur pierced her with the cipher, I killed the Minotaur, I had a spear, but he took it from me and I had to turn around with my hands, it was all very fast and confusing for me, I know I broke the Minotaur's horn and pierced him in the heart with it, it was incredibly sharp, I still have the cipher in my room." I was already crying a little, but quietly, so she wouldn't hear.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay." I said, smiling at her. "Let's go downstairs." She nodded, we went downstairs and I changed wives. Rebeca was less curious and didn't try to talk about my life. So the day went well, lots of fun and games, and when night fell I sent Pandora away. Hephaestus came to my side and said:

"It's time to go Percy, but I want to give you my last present before that."

"No need Hephaestus, you've already given me plenty."

"Relax, you'll like it." Saying that, he took a package out of his pocket and handed it to me. "Open." I opened it and inside was a Mini Celestial Bronze Dragon, it was about 10cm long, and had red eyes, with 2 rubies in place of the eyes, it was a very well made replica. "This is Festus, originally Festus was a real Bronze dragon, I found him on the brink of death, he had lost a battle to another dragon, his body was very punished by the battle, he would not survive, so I made a deal with him, I would make a new body for him, as long as he served me, he accepted, so I transformed him into a mixture of a real dragon and a war automaton, basically I gave the automaton a conscience, because he has nothing left of the old body."

"Incredible, is that possible? Could you teach me?"

"It is possible, it's not very difficult to transfer the animus of a living being to a machine, but it's wrong, I would never dare to transfer a human soul to a machine, it hurts the laws of nature, I was punished for creating Festus, Zeus and the council weren't happy about it, so I won't teach you." Hephaestus said seriously, I just nodded positively, and didn't prolong the story. "Anyway, back to what Festus can do, since he transforms into a gigantic dragon, quite powerful and resilient, unleashing fire with ferocity and a lot of destruction, he flies very fast too, about 500km/h is his fastest mode, but even in this transformation, he can still luxuriously house many people inside him, he also has a unique ability, he transforms into whatever you want, like a car, motorcycle, a flying boat and normal, appears in your pocket when you need it, it's smart. I confess it's one of the best and most complete automata I've ever created, modesty aside, very useful, isn't it?" My mouth was hanging open listening to what he was saying. "I hope you like it."

"Of course I like it, it's incredible, more than perfect." I said fascinated. "But it's yours, why are you giving it to me?" Hephaestus smiled and shrugged.

"I'm a god, I created him just for the challenge of creating something unique, that would defy the laws and logic of life itself, but in the end, he wasn't much use to me, in fact he only brought me problems." He smiled, as if he had just remembered something funny. --But maybe for you, he can be of more use, a kind of extra protection for you, with him, you'll have an invaluable ally to protect you from the monsters that will come after you, being who you are.

"I accept, I'm very happy." I said smiling, then I approached him and hugged him, and he hugged back.

"I'm glad you accepted, so I should add one last piece of information, Festus can talk to anyone, but I've also created something special for him, Festus can communicate mentally, but only with his master, no one can hear this communication, no one at all."

"It's incredible." I said fascinated, Hephaestus really was a genius, too much of a genius.

"As I already knew you would like it, I took the liberty of updating the information and passing on your details to Festus and his programming." Hephaestus said seriously. "Now just start it, έναρξη Festus." He said in Greek, I knew that word, it was initiate. In response Festus moved in my hand, coming to life, jumped out of my hand and kept flying in the same place, there were a few more gear noises and the red lights in his eyes became brighter.

"Hello, my lord Hephaestus, what can I do for you?" Festus asked aloud.

"Good evening Festus, you don't have to do anything for me, but you won't be answering to me anymore, you'll have a new master now, his name is Perseus Heitor Jackson."

"Understood, I have already received the new information from my new master." Said the dragon, then he turned his attention to me, looking directly at me, his red eyes shone more intensely, I felt a slight pressure on my head, almost like a voice whispering quickly and several times. "Your orders Lord Perseus." Suddenly I could hear the dragon's voice loud and clear in my mind, he bowed to me and nodded.

"Too incredible." I said excitedly, then I realized that I was playing the childish fool, so I concentrated and recomposed my posture. "Just call me Percy, Festus, please, and no sir either."

"Of course Percy." Festus said out loud now.

"Percy, it's your time, I think you should go." Hephaestus said, catching my eye.

"So, I'm on my way, before Hera goes all feral on me." I said seriously, it wasn't nice to get Hera upset. "Festus, could you take me to Olympus in your giant dragon form?"

"Of course, Percy." He answered seriously, then he began to emit a faint white glow, but he began to increase in shape rapidly, gaining a frightening size and suddenly he was a real dragon and a very large one, with claws the size of swords, huge wings and a very large head too, it was really incredibly beautiful. "That's it, transformation complete."

"For Poseidon, how incredible." I said fascinated, admiring the beauty of that beast, it was difficult to measure its dimensions exactly, but they were big. I shook my head, I had to go soon, then I'd have more time to admire Festus. "You're more than amazing Hephaestus, you're like an older brother, I love you man, I had a lot of fun with you, I thank you for everything, not for the gifts, but for being so nice and liking me too."

"I say the same, my friend." He smiled. "See you later Percy, train at the Olympus forge, you're very good, and next month maybe I'll bring you here again, now go!"

"I look forward to my next visit with you! And bring the girls back."

"Never again when you're here, you stole them from me" he said laughing, and I laughed along with him. Then I took off, climbing directly onto Festus's back, from above, I could see the girls had already returned and were looking at Festus wide-eyed, surprised by what they were seeing, but I had no more time for goodbyes.

"It was a pleasure meeting you girls, I hope to see you again, bye Cassia and Rebeca." I said goodbye from above, they waved at me, I think they were too astonished to say anything. "Let's go Festus, towards Olympus."