My Story Begins Ch 9

Chapter 9
We started climbing the volcano and reached a small ledge that was off the beaten path. When I asked Megan why we were looking for a weapon on a volcano, she told me that the smoke meant that Hephaestus was at his forge and he might make one for me.

“The entrance should be around here,” she told me as she started looking on the cliff face and moving rocks around. I didn’t know what the entrance to a godly forge would look like so I took a step back and leaned against the wall. I felt a small shift in the rocks and I pushed myself off the wall. When I turned around, a blue light in the shape of a hammer appeared much like it did for the entrance of the labyrinth and a door opened.

“Hey Megan, I think I just found the entrance. Hurry up before it closes on you,” I joked as I ran in. she followed shortly behind me and as I ran I felt a blazing heat come from the direction we were going. When I reached the end of the tunnel, it opened into a humungous room with anvils, molten metal, torches, and welding equipment of every kind. I may not have been a son of Hephaestus, but I would love to spend an afternoon in this place. A cyclopes passed by me carrying a huge chunk of metal and I remembered the one I had met in the school, causing me to take a few steps back. Megan had caught up with me and took a look around.

“Hey, don’t run ahead, you never know what you could be running into.” She put a hand on my shoulder after noticing me reaction to the one eyed monsters. “Don’t worry about those guys, they work here and are normally willing to help us demigods.”

I was still a little unsure but I followed her deeper into the forge until I saw a huge man smashing a hammer against an anvil. A few of his workings were grabbing things off the table and bringing them to the large man and he just continued to hammer away at whatever he was working on.

“This will show her, I can’t wait for the next time she meets with that motor head. What’s this? I sense the presents of demigods in my forge.” He turned around and took a look around before seeing us. Somehow now that he facing us he looked a lot bigger. However, I wasn’t scared of him and I was still amazed at the speed he created whatever that thing on the table was.

“What are you making?” I asked him as if it was the most casual conversation I could have had. He looked at me shocked, as if no one had ever taken an interest in his work before.

“Well, it is a gift I am going to give my wife,” he said as if trying not to give to much away. It must have been a surprise and I wanted to know what it did. I think he saw the look of fascination in my eyes and brought Megan and I up to the table that he had laid the object on. I could see it better and it looked like a necklace. It had a gold lace and a golden hammer pendent hung from it.

“It seemed like you were putting a lot of effort into it? Does it do anything special like play music or light up in the moonlight?” I asked him. He looked at me and started stroking his beard causing tiny sparks to fly around the room.

“Music? That’s not a bad idea,” he said before grabbing another few tools and installing a small speaker into the hammer pendent. “This will sure be a surprise. You’re one of Hermes kids, aren’t you?”

“How did you know?”

“Hermes is the god of invention. I may be the god of forges but he will give me a good idea every so often when he stops by to visit. I remember when I forged the first car; it was a great moment until I noticed I had nothing to make it move. Hermes came by and gave me an idea for the gas engine. I like you kid, what do you need?” he asked me as a smile formed behind that flaming beard. Megan was still in a state of shock that I was casually talking with a god, but I was the kind of person that would talk with complete strangers and this was no different. Sure he had enough power to destroy me, but I was just talking to a guy that enjoyed his work.

“I need a weapon,” I said as I whipped out my flashlight sword and handed it to him. He looked it over and tossed it into a box labeled Scraps.

“Piece of junk, I’m going to have to talk to some of my children later. I love those kids but if they can’t get the basics then I have to put them in line. Now, what kind of weapon do you want? You’re a son of Hermes so I’m thinking a sword or a staff. Something that you can move around really fast no doubt. Maybe even a…”

“A sledge hammer if you can, please.” I interrupted. Something about that fight in the hallway made me know that that was the weapon I wanted. The problem I had with the sword was that I was already fast so I needed a weapon that was strong. Something that could cause one hard hit after another, something direct.

“That is different, but I like the way you think,” he said before he pointed at two cyclopes. “You two, bring me some celestial bronze from the special pile. We have some work to do!”

Darkcloud1111: Fastest Hero Alive 10:00, February 18, 2011 (UTC)