HEPHAESTUS

Venus and Hephaestus were ready for the event. The white-haired boy looked at his partner with a concerned look. Because they did not have the strength to hide their panicked eyes.

They were still upset about what happened yesterday. After all those years it was the first time that they saw a warlock so close, even talked to them. Well, even if the talking was accompanied by a nasty kick.

Hephaestus flinched when they felt Venus's long slim fingers touching their palm. They turned their gaze at him and saw how concerned he was.

''Are you sick?'' He placed his other hand on their shoulder. He frowned, waiting for an answer. They nodded no and opened the door. Venus let out a long and deep sigh before he moved right in front of them, blocking the exit.

He kneeled just an inch so he could be at the same height as his partner. ''You are acting strange...'' He rolled his eyes after he heard what he said and let out his usual beautiful laugh that made Hephaestus flustered.''...more than the usual amount'' He corrected himself.

Hephaestus pouted and they kicked his leg softly with their prosthetic.

He let out a whining sound and placed his arms around them. Hephaestus chuckled from relief and looked away from his piercing gaze.

The streets were filled with a crowd that was celebrating nonstop. There were soldiers all around to protect them if there was any interruption. Hephaestus heard about a warlock that escaped yesterday by knocking out twenty of them. Venus told them that this made every sergeant upset so every soldier was ready for any danger. Even Venus was wearing his uniform with two stripes on his left sleeve.

Drums and trumpets were used by the bands to play music. Since the sun had already gone to sleep hours ago, the lanterns were already on. Stands with food were selling like crazy to the people from Olympus and the children. The citizens of Diyu were trying to find a target to steal from and a place that didn't have any soldiers.

Hephaestus started walking alone, wandering around, spacing out from joy. Venus looked at them finally, their lips drawing a smile to their face while they were walking with small dancing footsteps. People started gathering more and covering them and making him lose their sight. He started panicking and ran towards the crowd and found them staring at citizens from Olympus. He grabbed their hand and walked away.

Venus went to a stand and bought for Hephaestus and himself two caramel apples while he was still holding their hand so they wouldn't get lost.

They took a small bite from the caramel and continued walking. The sweet flavor made their face turn dark red. Hephaestus looked at Venus who noticed that they had blushed.

''What?'' They raised their right eyebrow.

''Nothing '' He replied and kissed their swollen lips, tasting the remaining sweetness.

There was a loud shout echoing with Venus' name. Turning on the side of the sound, Hephaestus saw two soldiers making cunning teasing gestures. The soldiers walked closer to both of them and started talking with him. Hephaestus stayed silent as they could see a quick smile curving on Venus' perfect crystal face. The soldiers looked back at them. Hephaestus waved hello and looked at Venus with a sweet look. His friends started to make stupid and strange noises to make fun of the couple once more.

And it worked as both of them covered their faces out of embarrassment. Two other familiar voices started calling Hephaestus from far away. ''Shit''Hephaestus's face became really warm as the cold wind was blowing through their entire body. Venus grabbed their hand and started running before Talus and Orion met the others.

They arrived at the main temple of Aztlan. They could barely see the stand and the microphone as the crowd was covering almost everything. Hephaestus was now on their toes but still nothing.

The lights on the temple were now turned on and Boudica appeared. Hephaestus noticed her red shimmering hair color and with her golden net, the crimson fire was kept in perfect shape. Her crown was a piece of art and craftsmanship as well. A simple piece of iron around her head and yet if someone could see closer they could find four carved squares with the one front holding a smaragdi. Four areas four carved parts. One Olympus. One Elysium. One smaragdi.

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Hephaestus smiled brightly. They looked at Venus and he responded with a soft chuckle.

The crowd started bowing down and praying toward her as the music stopped. She was the ruler of all of the kingdom. She was above the high priests, above the other nobles and royal relatives. Everyone was paying their respect to her. ''Rise'' She ordered and everyone got up quietly.

They could hear her deep and heavy breathing from the microphone. She started speaking. ''As you, all know ...We, mortals after all those years had advanced in technology more than we could ever dream of...'' She made another pause. . ''...but a friend of mine told me that dreams don't have any limit like the sky'' A strange sound surrounded the entire area. The wind became stronger from above. Someone walked closer to the microphone and took the spotlight. Hephaestus and the others couldn't see them but someone next to them commented something. ''He is way too short.''

''I, Thoth'' The one who was standing at the microphone spoke. ''...And I made the new future'' The clouds started disappearing as a giant and strange machine was flying right above them with the lights pointing at the crowd. The upper part was made of a strong light brown fabric and the down below was made with iron steel. There were windows so the pilot could see everything that was happening in front of them and down below.

''I call it a ship'' He announced. ''I have to find a better name later'' He murmured. Everyone was speechless. Hephaestus was ready to cry from joy as they could hear the cogs and could see how it was working perfectly. The steam that was going out of the ship was perfect.

The band started playing again and everyone celebrated thanking the spirits for everything that was happening. Hephaestus hugged Venus tight and placed a small kiss on his lips. They walked back and looked at him. He was in shock as he stroked his lips.

Colorful balloons flew everywhere and celebrating cheers covered the loud sound of the ship. Hephaestus' eyes faced the sky once more, seeing the vivid colors of it, thinking about the world celebrating and being in peace.

A scream. A loud crying scream changed everything.

What is happening? Hephaestus asked, confused. A few seconds earlier everything was just fine but then warlocks started appearing from everywhere, wearing white masks and attacking the crowd using magic. Some of them were drowning the people with water, and others were using wind to push them away to the walls. The soldiers tried to attack them back but the crowd started running away, without any care in the world about who they were stepping or crossing by. They saw some of them using technology from Aztlan.

Hephaestus started panicking as the crowd separated them from Venus. They screamed his name. That was the only thing that they wanted now. It was him. His hands. His hands hold theirs and tell them that everything will be alright. Both of them raised their hands to find each other. The people around Hephaestus were wearing clothes with iron. They started screaming from the fear and the pain while their organs were moving all around burning from the pain. They looked up to the sky and begged. Fat tears shed down from their eyes and fell to their cold faces. ''Please'' They screamed. They fell slowly, losing their balance.

One two three, One two three, One two three. Every time a person stepped on their body two times. They were counting it while they were also trying to fight it. The pain and burns became stronger. Strange thoughts get inside their heads. Hate. Anger. Frustration. The awful memories. ''Plea...'' The crowd started giving up as thick smoke surrounded the place. It was finally Hephaestus' chance to get up. Lifting their upper body wounded shaking limbs trying to rise from the thick cold ground. Breath trembling like a leaf. Copper locks falling to their sweaty brow. Heavy eyes, and lashes ready to cover the two blue skies.

They healed slowly and painfully, wasting a lot of energy. The smoke caused other incidents. None could see the warlocks and where they were attacking. The wind didn't help at all as they were warlocks who were manipulating it. A piece of steel from a building was ready to fall on two kids. Hephaestus heard their screams. Without any thought, they placed their hand towards the piece of steel and waved it away from the kids, making it fall away from the crowd.

Hephaestus realized what they had done. Screams and prayers and curses were now all around them. Everyone saw them. They looked up and saw Venus staring at them with fear in his eyes.

''Monster ''Someone yelled with disgust and pushed the young warlock closer to the smoke. What? But I... Hephaestus's breath was now cut by an iron bullet.

The young warlock turned back only to see that they were closer to the smoke. A familiar intoxicating scent made their eyes water. But these tears weren't willingly. They covered their ears and started thinking.

There was a small orb emitting smoke in front of their prosthetic leg as they looked down. The soldiers looked at those who were getting the orb from the ground like the guns that were holding did not scare them.

Their blue eyes focused on the cold metal and they threw it down when they saw what they were looking for.

''Shit'' Everything that they thought was coming together as their eyes were in the thick smoke.

It worked. It finally worked. They didn't know how but it worked. Even if they didn't test it they still couldn't believe it.

They knew what they had to do. They turned back and looked at Venus and then at the smoke. A few cogs of their prosthetic had been gone from the incident and it was making a strange noise that it was covered by everything. They tried to look away from the blood, from the spilling guts, from everything and they ran into the smoke. Someone shot a bullet right at the left side of their stomach and screamed from the pain. But they had managed to jump inside the eyes of the storm.

As everyone attacked from within, none had any more explosives. Except for one who held another orb. Taking a deep breath, Hephaestus slapped this person's white mask away and grabbed their hand. There was no doubt about it. They panted as their eyes found two suns darting by their presence.

They looked at the orb again and saw that it was a small white donkey as a signature.