HEPHAESTUS

They did not want to let him escape or let him after them, just playing with them. They had to fight. To end it.

They did not care if he was a Made One or the Spirits themselves.

Hephaestus knew him as nothing else by a deep void of dark shadows.

They were all running, far away from him. So he could not find them.

Hephaestus hated it. Their memory studied what happened before and what they knew about the myths.

The myths that Hephaestus ignored in their parents' studies. But their ears did not.

Few of the Made Ones could vanish into armies in the blink of an eye. Others could create lands and make rain at the moment when a mortal needed it.

In conclusion, if the scientist was free from prison, he could kill everyone he pleased. And yet he didn’t. He just played with them, showing his strength. But his strength felt similar to Janus’ or Hermes’s. He was just more playful with his incantation. Like a child.

''Alright,'' Hephaestus panted behind an iron wall and counted their fingers, studying everything they could think about.

The others hid next to them by shooting at the soldiers who were attacking them with all their might and will.

‘’We have.'' Their eyes found the remaining rings around their fingers and counted them. ‘’Four rings’’

‘’Seven pistols’’ Ukko threw one to Hephaestus to join the shooting.

Their fingers slipped, making the pistol fall from their hands. They took it back and aimed it shakily at the soldiers.

‘’Two who can attack with incantations’’ Hephaestus continued, pressing the trigger, looking at the shoulder of a soldier who was hiding on the other side. They hit slightly close to him and he snapped out of fear. Screams, pain.

I caused this.

‘’What do you mean?’’ Ukko asked them, surprised. ‘’We are three’’

‘’We are in a close place filled with engines that produce energy. Electricity'' They let out a trembling breath and turned to him. ‘’What will happen if you hit the walls with those engines, with your incantation?’’ They asked him calmly and curious for his answer.

''Noted'' He replied and kept shooting.

‘’So we..’’ Hephaestus scratched their heads with their bitten nails as their other hand was stepping on the cold metal.

A drop of their tears fell to their dark pants with their fists breaking from the shrieking trembles. For a second, it felt like a lifetime. Their mind stopped thinking. ONE TWO THREE

‘’We have a red stone’’ Mara announced, showing the small red like an almond stone. Lucifer’s eyes flinched as she saw the stone. And then Mara took out from her hair her hairpin, letting her locks loose.

‘’Take these. ‘’She said, slowly breaking the red gems from the jewel, leaving only the white ones alone. And then, every harsh characteristic of her face shifted back. Even her scars. Mara offered the red stone to Hephaestus without any hesitation.

They took it nervously from her palm and took a good look at it, before they gave it to Lucifer, avoiding her gaze.

‘’And,’’ She took one more deep breath, letting out of her pocket a golden lighter.

‘’You took it?’’ Lucifer hissed

‘’Borrow it.’’Mara corrected her.

Hephaestus shook fast and took the lighter, placing it inside their vest pocket.

‘’Let’s split,’’ Ukko thought. ‘’We need to find the pilot room. And where are the explosives? The ones that will throw’’ He corrected his thoughts slowly.

Everyone agreed with him. Hephaestus stayed silent. They could not think, they could not command. They did not have the strength to.

‘’To find the explosives’’ Orion said, holding Hephaestus’s shoulder. Talus agreed too.

Ukko and Mara volunteered to go find the pilot room. Mordred and Lucifer did not reply, thinking about their choices in complete silence.

‘’I am going to find the explosives’’ Lucifer announced, looking at Hephaestus with her true colored eyes open. Mordred shook his head, agreeing with her decision, thinking he would do the same.

She took it and walked front ambushing the soldiers with a glimpse of bright light. The painful screams appeared after that.

Getting separated from Ukko and Mara, Hephaestus felt a harsh wind around their skin, even if the temperature became higher. They were four floors lower than before and the soldiers were not like they were inside the rest of the other rooms.

Then, they separated with Lucifer, Talus, and Orion as they tried to search the rest of the rooms too.

They were now alone with Mordred, searching inside a room with big wooden boxes while the others were searching the one room next to them. Every room is the same. Every place is the same. Everyone's the same. The same eyes.

No words were coming from both of them, and none tried to look each other in the eyes. Hephaestus’ face was dark red from humiliation and anger.

They failed. And they brought something to the world that they did not believe in. They never believed in myths or prophecies.

The rest of them would never try to trust them again.

You caused this.

‘’ I am sorry’’ They finally whispered. But the whisper made it an echo for every ant or soul to listen to their broken voice.

They could hear the air moving around them. They could listen to Mordred closing the box with a loud slam.

He did not speak. He just kept looking for explosives. So did they. But there was nothing except simple pistols, carbines, food, and water.

But then, inside there was another small box, made of gold and silver, with diamonds decorating the keyhole. The keyhole. No, no iron. Glass filled with iron dust.

Painted iron in the colors of gold and silver. A trap for any warlock.

And the keyhole was too small for a burglar to break it.

Hephaestus placed it on the ground and they sat down too. The right hand moved its finger as the left created a piece of steel thin enough for the lock. When they turned it to the right side to open it, a ticking sound snapped inside the box. They ignored it and opened the box, only for a gray liquid to explode in their face.

It was hot as if they were back inside the basement. The heat pierced their skin, their vision became foggy.

‘’What are you doing?'' Mordred yelled. Hephaestus closed their eyes from the pain while he was wiping the liquid from their face.

‘’Mercury and Iron'' Mordred implied. ‘’Mortals will lose their minds, warlocks will lose their lives'’

‘’For you, it could be’’His hand and voice were distant. Their eyelids opened vividly to notice how terrified and furious his eyes were.

‘’Painful enough’’He said and moved away.

A perfect trap box. Difficult to open it. Curiosity drives someone in. Open it and you die. No matter who it is.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

But there was something inside. A bottle of wine with paper inside rolled up. A page of a journal.

They took it slowly out and opened the bottle by breaking it. When they took the paper and unfolded it only to find it.

''Blank'' Hephaestus whispered. ‘’Why is it?''

‘’I don’t know’’ Mordred shrugged and walked away from them and the paper. Hephaestus made it four square sizes and placed it inside their pocket before they stood up again.

‘’One more floor and three rooms on this floor, maybe we will find it,’’ Hephaestus explained.

‘’And then what?’’ Mordred interrupted their thoughts. The roughness in his soothing voice becomes more brutal, and distant. Monstrous.

‘’Will you let another one who wants warlocks dead free?’’ He asked them lifelessly.

‘’You think that I knew?’’Hephaestus replied with a stutter.

‘’I know that you didn’t. That is the problem.’’ He approached them again calmly. The same calmness as when they first saw him trying to kill a soldier. Hephaestus held their breath in panic.

‘’You keep this arrogant smile of yours and you do things that bring danger to me, to everyone around you and you don’t know it’’

‘’I ...’’ This time, Hephaestus was the one who had no words.

‘’You let someone like.''His voice broke like glass.''A Made One, a creature, a messenger of Spirits is now free and will kill us all’’

Hephaestus glanced away from him. They could not look again around his cold eyes and wind. But they were aware that he wanted them to look again, to face the consequences of their actions.

And they could see his beliefs slowly shattering too. The ones he was fated when he was a kid, the ones that priests made him believe that he would save mankind into the darkness, now ready to kill him.

‘’I am,'' Hephaestus said. And then they stopped. They didn’t know what to say to him. Telling him how sorry they were? For what exactly? That they got tricked by a Made One?

‘’Why couldn’t you make a choice?’’ He hissed. ‘’Pick a side, stop doing two things at once.’’

‘’Because I picked a side’’Their voice broke into a thousand pieces. A sudden soft gaze shifted at Mordred's skin. He did not say anything. And that broke them even more.

‘’I picked a side, I made a choice and it was the wrong one.’’Tears fled down their eyes as they tried to speak shakily.

‘’You..’’ Mordred muttered slowly realizing. ‘’Chose,’’

Flame rushed through their face, wrists stretched and fingers tapping the fabric close to their heart.

One, two three.

I can imagine, I can see myself still there, inside the basement. I can feel Prometheus's warm breathing as I clenched myself closer to him even more. I can hear my voice shaking when I am telling him, I will never let go.

He told me that I could travel with him to Elysium. Working with him as his assistant. made Leviathan ten times more pissed. I could see it so clearly. But I refused. I chose Prometheus. I chose my friend. I picked one part of me. I chose incantations

And in one second, I heard Prometheus growl. The heat around his body had emerged stronger. I walked back and saw his skin bursting into flames. Kept moving his pace slowly to mine as the bright light, the heat kept moving to my side.

''You told me that I will take it'' Leviathan whined behind me, complaining of how things turned out.

''PATIENCE'' Ma'at commented. ''I am just curious''

I looked back, watching his hands press his sharp chin as his lips twitch with a smile.

''What face he will make when he sees his friend dead in his flames?''

He would either see his only friend betray him or he would realize that he killed them. That was his twisted game. My choice would not change anything and yet it changes

I could not do anything more than run. Run like a pathetic child. I mean I was but you know what I mean? I jumped from corner to corner as he kept moving to my side. I stepped onto the table, letting chemicals and books fall. I continued crawling, crying as I finally touched the metal. Metal that it did not hurt me. My breath kept quickening second by second as I turned back, watching Protheus' entire body burn, and yet his eyes were still there. Human. They were human eyes filled with anger and fear and with the bright heated colors of the flames.

''I told you to run''His voice echoed.

I could not speak I could not do anything more than crawl to a corner with my hands touching the metal

He was three steps away and I could not do anything more than cry and lay down dead. He slowly walked towards me, his eyes filled with rage. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see what was going to happen. He stood in front of me, silent all around us.

But I could feel a voice screaming in my mind. Fight or die.

So I chose to fight.

One,

I took the steel and threw it with my command right at Prometheus' side. I did not know what it was but everything became clear when the key that I made before was a small sharp piece, piercing Prometheus' stomach.

Two.

His flames faded, making the room cold. I jumped to his side once more as he kneeled and pushed the piece even deeper into his body. More and more still I realize what I was doing.

Three.

Three seconds change everything.

It took three seconds to see Prometheus smiling. Skin marked by the flames, eyes, mouth bleeding, hands shaking.

Burn everything. He said dryly.

His body is kneeling, resting on mine. It was cold. Every heat he had he was now inside me. His final breath was now mine. His tears were mine. His pain and his rage were mine.

And I hated it.

''You''Ma'at finally looked me in the eyes and stood far from Leviathan, almost frightened.

I looked everywhere, panicked when I noticed the book. The book made him a monster. That made him die. is pages painting a figure pouring inside a red drink. Maybe that was the reason the plan first came in...

But then I just could only cry, feeling the heat growing inside me, my voice screeching in my mind as I was looking at him right at his shocked face.

I looked back at the man and to Leviathan who jumped furiously to my face with a flask wide open.

''Wait, not yet'' Ma'at yelled. ''They are not stable.''

And in one second, Proetheus' body became flames. The house shook, and the pipes broke. And I could not listen to my screams.

The last thing that I remember was him screaming, thinking that he died.

But I made the wrong choice. I chose sides. I cannot do it again. I cannot think that I chose the wrong one and made everything worse. Or the better one and hurt me from that I just...

Hephaestus looked down, cowardly after they told him everything. They could not look at him. Not again. Not with their imagination running wild of what eyes, and what feelings he is going to express.

Instead, he took his white clay mask out of his bag and held it tight. For some reason, this was far worse for the young gunsmith.

One, two, three.

''Did you know?''Asked Mordred with his eyes far from their gaze. Just like Hephaestus, he did not dare to look at him.

''Did you know what you chose when we were all taking the bottle? Your choice of what the effects would have been''He took a deep breath and after the pause.''Did you expect, something like this would happen?''

There was a long pause for Hephaestus their mind returned to their memories, to everything that happened. Maybe they knew from the start. Maybe they did not want to admit it at first. Or maybe not. But it did not matter.

''Yes.'' And they looked at the priest's face. No furious no empty. Sad, broken. Tired.

''And you...''

''You chose too.''Hephaestus said.''Do not try to make it my fault.''

''Maybe I did but the others? They are following you don't you understand what you're doing?''

''And since when do you care about anyone else than your light?''Hephaestus shouted. Mordred pulled away and looked down. After that. He broke into a laugh, holding his stomach again and again until he stopped, making Hephaestus uncomfortable, listening to his maniac.

''That is a reason isn't it?''He sighed.

''The reason of what.'' Hephaestus stretched their wrists.

''The reason I despise you''They looked back at them with a curled snarl.''Because the Made One is right about you. You are blind. ''

Hephaestus took a deep breath trying to speak.

''You cannot see your actions' aftermath. Choice or not, everything you are doing there is a consequence. And you cannot...''He lowered his stiff shoulders and took a deep breath. ''I might be a priest but at least I might follow blindly but I know what will happen. You? You are a monster.''

For the first time, Hephaestus felt something burning that wasn't their skin. Something hurting, breaking like they could not describe. And they hated it. They hated everything and if they could die in that moment, they would be happy.

''Then kill me''They let those words slip out with no emotion. ''You will do us both a favor.''

Mordred's face shifted and he turned away from them, avoiding their tired gaze. And then, he put his mask on his face.

‘’After that, we are going to Babel, '’He stated strictly like a machine. ‘’We are going to give the machines to them. We need something to fight the mortals at least’’

Hephaestus remained silent and stretched their wrists. A beautiful machine. A beautiful machine that could bring blood and chaos. Fire and despair. They wanted to disagree with him but Mordred kept talking.

‘’And I never want to see you ever again’’ He opened the door and walked away, far from them.

''Hide like a rat for all I care.''He whispered.

They knew that he hated them. This was no surprise to them. Why am I feeling like this? They touched their dirty vest, close to their heart.

No, oh shit. No. Their face became dark red from the realization.

No, no, no. Tears kept pouring out of their eyes.

Every time is the same.

They followed him but they were far away from his presence, keeping a distance.

A bullet hit their left arm. Sharp like a knife but not painful enough. They looked at the spot where the bullet came from to find twenty soldiers aiming at them with more of them storming from another room. They froze in fear, not knowing what to do. Suddenly, they heard a voice calling out their name. It was the commander of the troops, ordering them to surrender. Well, it was not their name but they got used to being yelled at with the name, 'monster'.

Lucifer and the others were out of the same room with soldiers behind them, pointing their carbines at their backs. Hephaestus found Lucifer still holding the stone but she was not using it.

‘’On the mark, shoot them twice'' one soldier with three lines on his arm ordered. ‘’One to the head, one to the heart’’

Hephaestus tried to think about everything that was happening. Either Ma’at found a way to kill them, or the soldier was guessing. Either way, their eyes found Talus and Orion. Two mortals and three warlocks. Two deaths.

‘’Wait’’ Hephaestus lifted their hands.

''For the love of Spirits,'' Mordred hissed, lifting his hands, imagining what idiocy they would do next.

‘’I surrender,'' they said with no stutter. They had had enough. They wanted everything to stop. No more innocents dying.

‘’Sorry but I am not taking hostages today'' The soldier grinned and lifted his arm.

‘’One’’

They could create fire. Burn every soldier. This could also ruin the machine or kill Talus and Orion. Lucifer could use her incantation too but it wouldn’t change the bullets. They were all wearing goggles.

‘’Two’’

They could feel the gray liquid of steel around their tongue. They could make it. Create it. It would be too late.

‘’Three’’

He lowered his arm and the time stopped with Janus and Hermes standing right in front of them.