Have you ever felt as if something you were setting out to do was virtually impossible? That even if you continued at it, your task would never be completed? After Iblis's second encounter, that was exactly how I felt. Chalk it up to Iblis's constant whispers, but I was beginning to doubt the mission I had set myself out to complete. I couldn't rely on allies anymore knowing full well what Zeus would have in store for them if they took my side.
The Olympians were powerful because they were ruthless. They were united in their manipulation of the world and that made them a formidable force. However, every wall had it's cracks and I had been exposed to one of numerous cracks that lined the wall of Olympians. There was unrest amongst the Olympians and I had decided to use that unrest to my benefit. The only way I would make a difference in their structure would be to crumble it apart from the inside and I had found an entry way in the from of Hephaestus.
I gathered my sparse belongings and headed away from the village of evil only to be stopped by a voice in the distance.
"Zrous!" Denit's familiar voice called out. It seemed as if he had reached the Messenger's grave. I needed to leave the area before he could reach me, I decided, but I should have known that Denit's speed would make my point moot. He called out once more before falling silent. I thought I had evaded him, but he caught up with me a second later and looked at me angrily.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Denit asked before pushing me roughly.
"Why are you angry?" I asked in confusion before pushing him back.
"I just told my mother that I'm going to be away for a while to help you and you decide to up and leave me? How does that make any sense?" Denit asked in disbelief.
"I realized that I was being selfish by putting you in danger. I don't expect to survive any confrontation I have planned for the Olympians. I can't put you in the same position. You have a family, a mother that cares for you , and a home to come back to," I explained.
"So what, you have nothing to lose? That's ridiculous. You're trying to save generations of our kind from corruption. I don't give a damn about how you think you may be saving me because this is MY choice. I could have stayed behind and let you continue on your journey, but I didn't. I'm not a child, Zrous. You need to acknowledge that. Now, what's our plan?" Denit asked before looking at me expectantly.
He had made his decision and he had stood his ground. It was obvious that whatever I said or did would not change the young jinni's mind. If this was what he had decided, then I would do my level best to protect him. I wouldn't let him become another casualty in my war against the Olympians. Denit continued to look at me for the next step in our plan and I sighed before speaking.
"We need to find Hephaestus. I saw how the rest of the Olympians treated him. He's not happy with them and I think he could be a good starting point. I tried tackling them head-on and that was near suicide, as you've seen. I think the best way to crumble their organization is to destabilize it from within," I explained while we continued walking.
"And you think Hephaestus is the weakest link? You do realize that he is the one that forges their weapons right?" Denit asked while looking at me as if I had lost my mind.
"If we disrupt their supply of weapons or better yet, turn their weapons against them, we will finally have a minuscule advantage. It won't be that great, but it is a start," I nodded, as if reassuring myself more than Denit.
"Do you even know where Hephaestus lives?" Denit asked with a smirk.
I glanced towards the younger jinni in calculation and asked,
"No, but why do I feel like you do know where he lives?"
"That's because I do know where he lives, or at least where he visits frequently. We have to know where they live and visit in order to avoid those areas," Denit smirked again and paused once we came to a clearing. The young jinni's eyes widened and he quickly pulled me into the shadows. He placed his hand over my mouth, effectively silencing me as we hid from whatever Denit had seen.
"Aphrodite. What is she doing here? She's not supposed to be here," Denit whispered once he deemed it safe for us to take a quick peek. I tried my best to stay hidden and leaned forward to see in the general direction Denit was pointing at. The beautiful female jinni that I had seen on Olympus now sat on a boulder that was in the middle of the clearing. The boulder seemed ancient, with layers of moss growing around and on top of it. Had Aphrodite been standing elsewhere in the clearing, I would have easily thought that the boulder was a small hill from a distance.
Before I could ponder the reason behind the jinni's presence, the woman stood up and shifted into a human form. This was curious. Why did the jinni feel the need to shift into a human form? As if ready to answer the question, my body began to shift as well.
"Whoa. That will never stop being freaky to me no matter how many of our kind do it. What are you thinking?" Denit asked.
"I think I need to find out what this Olympian is up to," I murmured and motioned for Denit to keep himself hidden while I followed the jinni past the clearing. Aphrodite headed away from the clearing down a worn path that descended near a small hut. Before I could reach the hut, a human appeared from behind it's door. He was young, no more than three decades old. He glanced up towards the path, causing me to seek refuge behind another tree. Why did I feel like i was playing a game of hide-and-seek with the Olympians and their accomplices? The man spotted Aphrodite and smiled. He headed up the path and reached out for Aphrodite before taking her into his arms.
"Oh. Ohhhh," I mouthed silently as Aphrodite embraced the human. They were intimate, I realized and turned away as they pair deepened their embrace. This was an area of life considered taboo by our kind, yet this jinni was openly embracing the forbidden. How many more rules were these jinn going to break? I was sure that Aphrodite had a relationship with Hephaestus, or was I mistaken? Perhaps in my struggle between life and death with the Olympians, I had misread the situation. No. I distinctly remembered Hephaestus calling Aphrodite a harlot. Did he know of this perversion? I shook my head to clear my thoughts since I didn't have the luxury to speculate. Aphrodite wasn't my target. I had to stay steadfast with my mission.
"Where did she go? What was she doing?" Denit asked once he spotted me heading back towards him.
"It's none of our concern. Our target is Hephaestus," I shook my head and shifted back to my natural form.
"You saw something. What did you see? Zrous," Denit frowned and shoved me to get my attention.
"I will not corrupt you, Denit. There are things out there that need to stay in the dark. This is one of those things. Let's just say, it's forbidden," I warned and continued our trek. It seemed as if Denit had taken offense to my silence. He remained a few steps behind me as he followed, as if trying to show his displeasure. We walked for what seemed like a few more miles when Denit decided to speak up.
"I'm not a child, you know," Denit began. "You can't do this without me because you're not even going the right way."
"Denit, if you think that I'm going to tell you what I saw, you are mistaken. There are things out there that I have seen that no one should ever have to see. Even if I go the wrong way, I will eventually run into one of the Olympians. That much, you've seen," I countered and continued on my trek.
"You need my help, Zrous. Admit it," Denit continued. He was protesting but still followed behind me. I knew that it was his curiosity that was causing him to try to counter me, but I didn't want someone's transgression, a perversion for our kind, to become public.
"I will appreciate your help, Denit. Would I like for you to aide me? Of course, but will I force you to help me? No," I explained simply.
"Ugh. You're so stubborn!" Denit growled before hopping in place in frustration. "Maybe that's why they can't kill you. You simply refuse to die."
"That's what it is," I smirked and looked at Denit in surprise as he forcibly turned me to the right.
"There. At least go in the right direction," Denit scoffed before leading the way in the right direction. I smiled and followed wordlessly. It seemed as if Denit was letting my silence go for now. I appreciated the reprieve from his inquisitive nature, since it allowed me to think of our impending altercation with Hephaestus. Hephaestus had been called "ugly" by Ares, showing an apparent strife between the two jinn. In fact, it seemed as if Hephaestus was an outsider by all accounts when it came to Olympians.
"Zrous," Denit whispered before placing his hand on my shoulder to stop me. I paused and looked towards the cave that Denit was now pointing towards. The cave was deep in the forested area we had been walking through and would have seemed quite haunted to the average human, a perfect abode for a jinni. "He's here. This is where he forges his weapons. Look. There he is."
Hephaestus wore a perpetual frown on his face. He held an axe and headed towards a forested area parallel from us. We watched silently while the jinni began chopping down large trees. this behavior would have seemed peculiar to everyday jinni but I knew that Hephaestus had the ability to work with metals.
"He has a furnace in there. Look," I pointed out a distant pillar of smoke. Denit followed my gaze and nodded in understanding before hiding amongst the bushes once Hephaestus turned around abruptly, now holding his axe menacingly.
"I know you're there. Which bastard sent you?" Hephaestus growled before tossing the axe with full force towards us. I couldn't let Denit get caught. Innocent people would not pay for my mission. I stood up and caught the axe before tossing it back towards Hephaestus.
"You. Hera killed you," Hephaestus growled.
"Well she didn't do a very good job, did she? Not the first time either," I answered with a smirk.
"Get lost. I don't have time for snowflakes like you. Zeus will eventually come around for you," Hephaestus growled and began to head towards the cave. I motioned for Denit to stay hidden and followed Hephaestus into his cave.
The cave was warm, almost unbearably so. A furnace roared against a far wall and various things had been chucked into it. I didn't understand many of the contraptions Hephaestus had around him but it seemed as if the incomplete jinni was home amongst these things. Many anvils littered the ground with swords of various lengths and styles in the midst of being forged. I glanced at barrels and vats that lined the entrance to the cave and realized that they were full of the only means of our execution, dousing fluid.
"How dare you enter my forge?!" Hephaestus hobbled over to his anvil and raised one of the swords he had been working on towards me. "I'll use this on you. I may be incomplete but I'm NOT weak!"
The jinni growled at me before making his way over. I smirked before running my hand an inch over the vat of dousing solution. Hephaestus looked at me in a mixture of surprise and fear. He backed away from the vat and looked at me unsurely.
"I've burned before, Hephaestus. What makes you think I'll let you do that to me again?" I asked, hoping for a rise out of him. Hephaestus frowned and tossed his incomplete sword aside. He huffed and decided to approach me.
"What do you want?" Hephaestus asked angrily.
"I want you to stop being Ares's punching bag. He's nothing without you and your weapons. Why don't they treat you with respect, the other Olympians?" I asked with a feigned look of concern. Hephaestus's frown deepened, but he listened as I continued. "I have a way to bring you the honor you deserve and Ares the humility he needs. Now, are you ready to listen?"
He was.