The god of forge and fire

{Labyrinth, Unknown Time}

Lailaps kept on sniffing the floor following the scent of Hephaestus mechanical spider. It wasn't long before we found the thing or in this case place the spider had arrived.

Lava poured from the walls into a pool made of cobblestone, dust and cobwebs plagued the walls like a flea to skin, still in the middle of the pool of lava a small platform connected to the outside through a small bridge of stone. On the platform a few tools for forging hung in a rack, a huge furnace of hearth in the middle and a big anvil at the side, still the thing that drew my attention wasn't the attention to detail that every tool had obviously been cared with but the man in front of the anvil his back turned to me though I could still see his face with my sight.

BANG-BANG-BANG

The banging continued to thunder across the room no matter how close I got to the god. "Uhmm," I coughed dying to get his attention still the man or in this case god continued hammering down on the hot steel.

So I decided to keep quiet and wait for him to stop, it didn't take much longer as soon he plunged the hot steel into a barrel filled with water beside him, before he went back to his anvil chipping away slightly and then placing it onto a rack filled with weapons.

Hephaestus had paid no attention to me, throughout his entire process but now as he had finished his newest work he turned around facing me, a grotesque face that looked like it had been stung by a thousand bees, raspy facial hair covered his face kind of like a goatee, his shoulders were at different levels with a protruding hunchback going above his head one of his eyes looked like someone had done a poor Botox job, dropping downwards.

"What are you doing here?" His voice boomed in a gentle way, "Look it isn't like I want to bother you but you know quests are quests." I replied not wanting to get on his nerves not because I was scared of him or anything like that simply because I needed to get Achilles' armor.

Hephaestus sighed a metallic stool appearing beneath him, on which he sat on his stubby legs now a few inches above the ground. "So what do you want?"

"I need Achilles' armor, the second one."

He placed his hand on his beard almost as if he was thinking about it.

"No." He replied his voice booming across the forge again. I obviously expected this but it was still disappointing that it wouldn't be easy.

"Isn't there anything I could do."

He simply smiled jumping from his stool coming closer to me before grabbing my hand where my tattoo was imprinted, his index finger touched the ink, as a light spread across the room, I could feel the spear not obeying my wheel, following the whims of his creator in a similar way I commanded over shadows.

When the light faded, my spear was in Hephaestus' chubby palm, it felt weird seeing someone who wasn't we grab the spear after all no one at camp was able to pick it up so it almost felt like something that wasn't supposed to happen.

"I'll give you the armor for the spear." He said his eyes now paying no more attention to me, all of it was concentrated on my spear. He twirled the spear through his fingers, I instinctively knew he was testing the balance of the weapon.

"No."

"No, I thought you wanted the armor, my price is your spear."

I teleported in front of the god grasping the wooden shaft, I commanded the spear back into my hand and although it was a slight tussle it obeyed me, my tattoo appearing on my hand once more.

"Well if you don't give me your spear, what else can you offer me?"

I smiled the blade I had grabbed from Oreo appearing in my hand. Hephaestus looked for a second before he grabbed it and began tapping the blade.

"Stygian Iron a good weapon but not enough for the armor."

"Oh come on, I am not even gonna put it on I just want to leave it in Ajax's grave." I complained after all a Stygian iron weapon for basically nothing since I wasn't keeping the armor was already a bad deal in my book.

"Ok tell you what you give me that sweater you have on you and I'll give you the armor."

My sweater, honestly I really didn't want to do that after all this sweater did provide some serious protection against weapons, it was also the first monster drop I had gotten from my first labor it was more sentimental than anything else, but at the same time the sweater provided almost no protection to the monsters I had been fighting lately, primordial gods and all.

"Fine." I conceded taking off my sweater and handing it to the god of the forge, the sweater glowed for a bit, returning once more to its original form a pelt with lightning like runes.

"This is going to be fun to dismantle." The god grinned, flames appearing inside the god's mouth, he seemed to have completely forgotten about me once more.

"So the armor?" I questioned wanting to get it before the god became engrossed in his works again.

"Yeah, yeah here you go." He flipped his hand, a Greek styled armor appearing in front of me, the Mist clung to it more than it did to even my spear. I sent over my shadow allowing the armor to sink into it, before I turned back to Lailaps and a Swiper who had stayed at the outer rim of the forge.

"Oh yeah kid." Hephaestus voice boomed again, "If you wear the armor I'll know and take it back. The armor is just for your quest find Ajax's grave and place it there. I may not be as strong as my father, as ruthless as my uncles or as war oriented like my brother, there is one thing I always do better than them keep my promises." Hephaestus finished the previous bobbling lava around me calming once more.

I just nodded at his words, Swiper and Lailpas jumping into my shadow as I prepared to teleport again leaving these final words with the god "I won't wear it, but don't get in the way of my labor I've killed gods before."

Finishing that I sunk into my shadows after all I needed the last word when talking to gods couldn't let their ego get to their head.

[Greek Myth Fact: Hephaestus was the Olympian god of fire, smiths, craftsmen, metalworking, stonemasonry and sculpture. He was depicted as a bearded man holding a hammer and tongs the tools of a smith and sometimes riding a donkey.

Some of the more famous myths featuring the god include:--

His fall from Olympus in which he was cast away by Hera at birth.

The capture of Hera in a cursed throne and his return to Olympus.

The adultery of his wife Aphrodite who was trapped with Ares in a golden net.

The crafting of Pandora, the first woman, at the command of Zeus.

The attempted violation of Athena which resulted in the impregnation of Earth and the birth of Erichthonius.

The crafting of the cursed necklace of Harmonia which doomed her descendants to a cycle of tragedy. Wrothful at Aphrodite's infidelity inflicted his vengeance on the daughter born of her adulterous union with Ares, Harmonia. On the girl's wedding day he presented her with a beautiful, cursed necklace which brought doom to her and her descendants

The Trojan War in which he fought the river-god Scamander with fire.

The crafting of the armor of Achilles at the request of the hero's mother Thetis.]

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