Unlikely Heroes

Chapter 93: Lord of The Forges

Annabeth Chase

We all continue through the corridors after we left the sphinx. I wonder what the sphinx will cook up next. The sphinx should not stoop so low! I always wanted to receive a riddle from this famous riddle maker. Maybe not with the possibility of death, but still. It challenges the mind and that is good.

It doesn't take much longer till we are met by a large bronze door. The door resembles a door that you would find in a bunker or a submarine. Fully made out of metal and only a metal plaque showed the symbol of Hephaestus: a beautiful bronze hammer.

"Well, here we are..." Bianca says with some nervousness in her voice.

"Yup," Nico says, popping the 'p' at the end.

"A nice door..." Percy says as the trio continues to stare at it. Tyson nods in agreement.

"Well crafted," Tyson says in agreement.

"Are we just going to stare at this door?" I ask with some annoyance, Zoe rolls her eyes as she watches the nervous Percy, Bianca, and Nico. It seems most of the group hesitates to go inside. Only me and Zoe are not worried. Zoe probably because she is used to it. During her time as lieutenant, she must have spent a lot of time with the other gods.

And me? Well, Aileen is basically the reason for it. If I can survive a cold and stern Persephone. Let alone dinner with Hades, which I enjoyed very much. In private, Hades is actually nice and very talkative. If you take all that into account, I think I can handle meeting Hephaestus. I mean, compared to Hades the other Gods seem... manageable.

"Let me go first then..." I mumble out as they weren't moving. Tyson came to help me as he noticed that I was struggling to turn the metal wheel. The door soon opens up to show us a mechanical wonderland.

This was the largest and most well-equipped workshop I have ever seen. The forge itself was huge with an intense and bright fire. Several cars were hung up to be inspected and perhaps tuned or changed for another purpose. Then there were many benches littered with designs, and small bronze mechanical projects on them.

That was the normal stuff. The rest of the space was filled with enormous mechanical beasts, wires going in and out of them. One of the automatons was a large lion while another dragon-like that was hooked up to some magical battery. The most stricking item in the workshop was the flaming chariot in the back and at the other side was an ornate, expensive-looking, and detailed throne. It was nearing completion by the looks of it. The only part that needs some work were the symbols.

Under one of the cars, a large and bulky body can be seen from under it. The feet were large, even larger than that of Tyson. Attached to one leg was a metal brace. Hephaestus was working on a car. The spider was making its way in a speedy manner towards the God. A booming and deep voice came from under the car as the spider crawls under it.

"Well, what do we have here?" Hephaestus says as he came out from under the car. He looked just like a mechanic. Grease, had some oil spatters on his clothes and a beard that wasn't very clean. The beard also was smoky at the tips of the hair with sometimes a burst of flames.

What I didn't think about was how misformed his face was. On Olympus, when I saw him, he looked rather okay. Not ugly, or very misshapen. Sure, he wasn't the prettiest among them, but definitely not ugly. Now, however, his true form is showing.

This also confirms my suspicions about Aileen. She will be a pretty redhead. It makes me giddy with anticipation somehow. I can't wait to see her again. And definitely makes me look forward to- later. We can fantasize about a certain redhead another time. I wipe the sides of my mouth as I watch Hephaestus walking to a workbench.