Hephaestus & Aphrodite

Prologue: A Forgotten god

(This story is FICTION and NOT like the real Hephaestus and Aphrodite Greek Mythology story. Details and plot lines will be changed. :)

Read Hades& Persephone before this! Hope you enjoy! :))

An ugly soul tossed about as if its life were not worthy of living. By my own mother, may she seem sweet, but disgusted with my features and threw me down from the heavens. For nine days, I slowly inched my way to the surface to find my reflection just as Hera had said; hideous, repellent, monstrous, grotesque, reprehensible, deformed, awful, vile! My ugliness, which Hera once said was like a human whose skin has been lit ablaze and burning in agony. Like dry skin peeling from itself, forming a new layer of gory burns that will never go away. That's what my own supposed mother told me...

This was not the face of a god.

Who would have thought I would be tossed away as soon as I realized where I resided. I only knew my mother Hera for a week while she kept me hidden from Zeus and the other gods. I sensed anger and jealousy within her during those seven days of unwanted maltreatment. What was my purpose? I thought as my hatred grew for Hera. She barely looked upon my face and at that time and I didn't even know what I looked like. All I knew was that my mother was Hera and I was a supposed god. Sometimes I would hear voices of the other gods from outside the room where I was quietly kept. Ares was it? Hermes and Apollo? I have never laid my eyes upon them before. Except for one goddess. I only caught a glimpse of her, but she had already stolen my heart. Even though I'd seen her, she probably didn't even know I existed and Hera made sure of that. Instead, I was pushed off Mount Olympus praying that the strength of a god would numb the pain. The pain was bearable, but the consequence was most miserable. My leg was fragmented and I was unable to saunter any further than a few inches.

Not a hint of light beamed at where I watched my reflection in the water flutter with haste. Almost spewing at the site of my accidental appearance, I turned away and looked towards the heavens. Where I should be!

Where I once was!

Where I am not...

Trying to stand up for the hundredth time, my broken limb gave way and I toppled to the ground. The sight of my disagreeable leg made me cringe with fear. If I am unable to walk, then I might as well perish on the land of the living. Once again I tried moving the broken limb, mostly kneading it on the acute rock causing my skin to be punctured. After a few minutes of attempting to elevate my leg, I sighed and gave up.

"Ah, what am I to do?" I laid back on the ridged ground looking up the tall mountain. Thinking had I not been born out of Hera's jealousy, maybe I would have been a lovely sight. Of course, these are only petty useless thoughts to the already set fate I have.

"Had I'd only been killed instead."

"Belittle your life so much, might as well kill yourself."

I sat up quickly, ignoring all the sharp pains from my leg, and looked at the short woman standing in front of me. She wore a magenta-colored stola and silver jewelry around her neck and waist. An average looking woman, but who am I to jurist ones looks.

The short woman walked closer to where I sat and leaned over my legs. "This is worse than critical. How did this happen?"

I hesitated to answer the stranger, but thought who else was there to help me?

"I-I fell..."

"And who would believe that?" Another woman appeared out of nowhere and looked upon my face. "No one falls in front of the great mountain."
"Now, Now, Eurynome. He is a child who does not want to reveal his stature."

Eurynome glared at me with her dark brown eyes then spoke the unknown truth. "Seeing as a person doesn't just happen to be in front of Mount Olympus, I'm assuming this injury has something to do with the gods." Her left brow perked upward as she waited for my answer.

"Your assumption is correct, but I will not speak any further." I looked down thinking she was going to lash out at me, but instead, she looked up at Mount Olympus. Thetis walked over to me and placed her hands on my leg beginning to study it.

"Your vocabulary is splendid for the looks of a child," Eurynome uttered as she watched Thetis touch my broken leg.

"What do you expect from a god who lived on Mount Olympus."
I flinched at the feel of such soft dermis. This was my first time touching a person's skin. It felt smooth compared to my rough, coarse skin.

"Thetis, we should not tamper with this child. The gods will scorn us."

"And why is that?"
"Well, it is no lie that this boy fell down Mount Olympus for a reason. You remember all the troubles we had with Dionysus."

"I didn't fall..." Both Eurynome and Thetis looked at me.
"...I was thrown..." The woman stared at one another then back at me. Eurynome's eyes changed from fear to concern. 

"I fear that the gods don't even know of my existence." I looked up the lonely mountain where I had once resided.

"Well, if that be the truth then I guess the gods will not care where we take you," Eurynome responded with a sigh. She pulled out a white cloth and wiped the blood from my face.
"You poor child."
I was certainly not used to this comfort of theirs and felt extremely out of place, but also...I felt warm.
Is this what it's like to be loved?

"Hold your breath and clench your teeth young one," Thetis said as she put pressure on my left leg.

"Why? What are you going to do?" I said as I clenched my teeth and began to hold my breath.

Snap!

The gods must have completely forsaken me to let me feel this much pain at one moment. The sky turned from black to blue as I regained my composer and cleared my mind. I had forgotten where I was at the moment until I heard the voice of the young woman.

"...Child, young child, it is all over now."

Looking at my surroundings then at my pained leg wrapped in cloth, I tried to move it.

"You can now walk at least. Wait a few days if possible." Thetis stood up and wiped the dirt from her clothing.

"Why help me? You must be disgusted with my looks." The young maidens stared at me for a while, long enough to make me feel uncomfortable.

"A god being ugly? That's impossible."
Eurynome barked a laugh.
"My sister is right, if you are deemed as ugly, then I must look revolting." Thetis smiled at me with sweetness in her eyes.

"Enough about that, follow us if you don't want to starve, child."

"My name is Hephaestus." I slowly stood up from the ground and almost trampled over as I followed her. My left leg would not move as I pleased as I limped behind the two.

"Mine's Thetis and hers is Eurynome."

"Whoever threw you was a fool! We will raise you to be a civilized person. So if you are to come across the gods again someday, they will not see your revenge coming." Eurynome, with her smart mouth, smiled at me.

"Now, now, don't go teaching him about those things all of a sudden, Eurynome." Thetis smiled as well, but I could tell that they were both still scared of the god's wrath.

Life continued unexpectedly as Eurynome and Thetis led me to Lemnos where I stayed learning the ways of a blacksmith. Little did I know that the power of a god ranges farther than I imagined. The weapons I forged were no ordinary weapons, but beastly contraptions filled with massive power. Artillery fit for a god and only I know how to make them. For 50 years I stayed quiet on the earth, pounding the brawny iron wondering, was this all there was for me? Being raised by Nereid's and praised by the humans, but forgotten as a god? If only I weren't unsightly, as Hera described and more like Ares who I've heard is mighty and fearsome. Or Apollo, who the women can't resist.

Yet, I am not.

As strong as I have grown in size and mind, I will never be what I'm truly meant to be... a god.