Chapter 6: The Forging of The Weapons

Hopefully I'll have pumped this one out by the end of this weekend. Again, thanks for sticking around this long. I don't think I'm gonna give up on this story, I seem to like this one. Also, sorry if I get the forging process wrong. I'm not a blacksmith, so there'll most probably be stuff missing, but sorry if I get something wrong

Chapter 6: The Forging of The Weapons

Percy's P.O.V.

My vision returned to me gradually as the bright light that blinded me faded away. There was a large shadow looming over me, which as my sight returned, appeared to be Hephaestus. Ares and Athena were behind him, the former looking at me with a shocked expression on his face, while Ares seemed to care not for me.

My eyes wandered, and I saw Artemis standing not too far behind them with a shocked expression on her face and dried tear stains on her cheeks. I frowned, wondering what had made her so upset. That was when I remembered what had just happened.

I panicked and shot up, checking over my body and expecting to see nothing but charred flesh and bone. I was immensely shocked to find that my arms still had the untouched skin attached to them, and as I looked all over, I realised that the same was true for the rest of my body.

This did nothing to calm me, and if anything, the confusion made me panic even more. I looked up in terror at the four gods in front of me, on the verge of a mental breakdown. "What the fuck? How am I still alive? I saw my arms in there, they were nothing but flesh and bone! Why am I alright? What is happening to me?" I wailed, hyperventilating.

Hephaestus slammed his mouth over my hand as Artemis rushed towards me. She tackled me in a hug and buried her face in my chest. "Don't do that again! Don't scare me like that! I thought I'd lost you, Percy. After only a day of having you, I thought you were gone! You weren't breathing and- and I d-didn't" She sobbed into my chest.

I quickly realised that she needed comfort more than I could and quickly composed myself, wrapping my arms around her back and shushing her. "It's alright, Artemis. I'm alright, you're alright. Everything's alright. You don't have to worry about me doing that again, I'm never going near fire again." I told her, trying to calm her down.

I kissed her on the forehead, and then immediately realised my mistake. Oh shit. I shouldn't have done that, I should not have done that. I thought to myself as looked up to the three witnesses.

I'm sure it must have already looked a bit strange, the Virgin Goddess being comforted by a male she had only known for a short while. The deed I had just done must have been the icing on the cake, and as I saw their faces, I knew that was exactly the case.

Athena had a hand over her mouth in shock, and she looked offended. Hephaestus' eyebrows were raised, but to be honest, he didn't seem that surprised. Ares had a look of slight jealousy which slightly disturbed me.

Artemis's sobs quieted down fast, and less than a minute later she shot out of my embrace and looked at me with a pissed expression on her face. At first, I thought it was because of the romantic gesture, until she punched me in the shoulder, hard, and scolded me. "I mean it! Don't you ever fucking do that again, okay?" Her mood change scared me, and I nodded frantically.

She nodded, accepting my promise, and stood up. Artemis noticed the stares of the other gods and glared at them, though I noticed there was a slight glint of insecurity in her eyes. "What?" She snapped at the gods, which made none of them shy away.

Athena glared at her. "How could you?" She accused, with made Artemis flinch a bit, but she held her ground. "What do you mean?" Athena kept her angry gaze on the moon goddess. "I know what this is. You two have been around each other a lot recently, and you didn't react when he embraced you, or kissed you on the forehead. You two have been seeing each other, haven't you?" She said, which made Artemis flush.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." She tried to keep the act up, but it was already too far gone. "Don't toy with me, sister. How could you break your oath for a man!" She accused, which elicited an enraged reaction out of Artemis.

She gave the goddess of wisdom a death glare that I pray will never fall onto me. "Don't you dare accuse me of such a thing! What do you take me for, sister? Some slut of Aphrodite? We've only been together for a day!" She screamed at her sister, making the goddess shrink back.

Athena quickly regained her composure. "So you admit it?" Artemis blushed, and I reached out my hand towards hers in comfort. She looked at me smiling, and linked our hands together, before turning back to our fellow Olympians. "Yes, Perseus and I are dating."

Athena nodded, while Hephaestus and Ares retained the same expressions as before. Artemis fidgeted with my hands nervously. "Please don't tell anyone." She begged. Athena nodded without hesitation, while Hephaestus thought it over for a moment before following suit. Ares refused to nod, requiring a heavy glare from me before doing so.

After an awkward silence, Hephaestus clapped his hands together and walked away. "Alright, let's make us some weapons." He declared, and we followed him. The god led us over to the forging area, next to the large tub of superheated liquid. The compound of Typhon's blood and the magma of Mount Saint Helens.

"Typhon should still be disturbed by what happened. If we act fast, we can forge these weapons all today. Now, here's what's going to happen. You're going to tell me what weapon you work best with, and I'll make it out of the compound. Then, once it's solidified, I'll have each of you place your hand on your weapon to give it your power. You'll have to use an ancient spell, so remember it." Hephaestus instructed, and then cleared his throat.

"Μεγάλο χάος, επιτρέψτε μου να ευλογήσω αυτό το όπλο με μεγάλη δύναμη. τη δύναμη να καταστρέψει τους στρατούς, ας το βάλουμε σε αυτό το όπλο. Κάντε το δικό μου να σκοτώσει το κακό, να κάνει τη δική σας τάξη, να γίνει ένα όπλο άξιο ενός θεού" He chanted in Ancient Greek, which I could understand. I memorised most of it, and trusted myself to do so with the rest when whoever went first did it.

"Any volunteers?" Hephaestus asked, and since no one volunteered, Hephaestus chose Athena. Great, at least she'll actually get it right. She thought for a second, but her choice was kind of obvious. "I'll have a spear." She told him, and it appears Hephaestus was already onto it.

He sifted through a large pile of stone slabs, and pulled one out. It was carved in to form a shape, which I then realised looked like a spear tip. That means these slabs must be moldings, probably not all spears but most likely weapons.

Hephaestus chucked the slab down and went to the pot of melted metal. With a large grunt, he tipped the pot so that if was carefully pouring onto the slab, and when it had filled the mold, he placed it back upright.

Hephaestus went to work on Athena's new spear, and out of boredom the rest of I began to chat. Athena was watching the forging with interest, so I didn't bother trying to converse with her, instead I turned to Artemis.

"So what weapon are you gonna pick?" I questioned her, to which she made a thinking face and took a moment. Her choice, like Athena's, was kind of obvious. It was a 50/50 chance on it being that or daggers, so of course she picked "Bow."

I scoffed. "Of course." Lady Artemis gave me a glare, which made me shrink a little. I hadn't meant to say it so insultingly, but sometimes my tone doesn't match my thoughts. She tilted her head a bit and smirked. "And what was your choice, again?"

I sighed, knowing where she was going with this, and bowed my head in defeat. "Sword." The auburn haired goddess chuckled. "Of course." She said in the same tone I had, though jokingly.

Suddenly her smile faded, and I noticed that someone was trying to reach her through an iris-message. Probably her hunters had accidentally burnt down a tent while making lunch. "Sorry, I should take this." She explained, and I nodded. Artemis walked over, away from all the noise and accepted the Iris message.

Hephaestus continued his work on Athena's weapon while I just stood there awkwardly. I felt a sharp pain in my left side and I looked over, annoyed at the person who did that. It was Ares, of course. The brute had elbowed me in the ribs, and I glared at him. "What?"

Ares smirked. "You're lucky, punk. If you hadn't gotten her so gooey-eyed over you, I would have taken her for myself." He bellowed, and I growled a bit under my breath, keeping my eyes on Hephaestus and Athena. "What do you mean by that?" I asked, keeping my cool.

"Well they can't stay virgins forever, the three of them. They've gotta break at some point, and you're lucky enough to have broken the hottest one. Guess I'll turn my sights on one of the other's." He told me, and his gaze set upon Athena, particularly her backside, which made me growl even more.

"Don't fucking say that, you prick." I told him, trying to scare him down. The war god laughed. "It's a good thing you broke her. I was that close to just taking her by force. Hades knows that Zeus will have my head for tha-" That pig of a god didn't get to finish his sentence before I punch him in the gut, making him hunch over in pain.

He cringed, and glared at me with one eye open. "Asshole." I rolled my eyes, still pissed at him. "Shut up."

We heard a triumphant yell from Hephaestus, and we looked over, Artemis coming back from her call. The smith god turned around, and held out something to present it to Athena.

It was quite possibly the most beautiful spear I'd ever seen. A golden, glowing spearhead was attached to a long, polished steel pole. He looked up at her, proud of his work, and told her. "Now place your hand on it, and let the magic do it's work."

She was a bit wary, but complied, and wrapped her palm around the steel pole. Once she'd done that, Athena recited the spell. "Μεγάλο χάος, επιτρέψτε μου να ευλογήσω αυτό το όπλο με μεγάλη δύναμη. τη δύναμη να καταστρέψει τους στρατούς, ας το βάλουμε σε αυτό το όπλο. Κάντε το δικό μου να σκοτώσει το κακό, να κάνει τη δική σας τάξη, να γίνει ένα όπλο άξιο ενός θεού"

Immediately the magic that Hephaestus was referring to went to work. Some grey wispy stuff was leached out of Athena and flew into the pole. The glow from the golden spearhead soon became brighter, and my eyes widened.

When the glow died down, Athena was panting, and Hephaestus looked up at her with glee. "Congratulations, you have a new weapon." He told her, and let go of the spear. Athena walked over to inspect her new spear, and Hephaestus turned back to us. "Who's next?"

Ares eagerly stepped forward, and demandingly told the god. "I want a battleaxe. I think it's time I had a change-up." Hephaestus nodded, slightly annoyed at the tone. The god immediately went to work, doing the same process as before, but this time with a different molding.

I looked at Artemis. "What was the call about?" She looked a bit tired, as if that one call had put so much on her plate. "It was Thalia. They spotted Orion, meaning he's escaped Tartarus again. They didn't kill him, because he had a lot of company, but they can confirm it was him. Plus, some of his company were other notable monsters and people that they wouldn't be able to take all at once."

I nodded, understanding why she was worried. I'd heard the stories. "Are they true? The stories about you and Orion?" I asked, and she notably stiffened. "The ancient Greeks played it out like some kind of poetic tragedy. It wasn't a love story like they say, it went a bit differently." She said, and took a deep breath, before continuing the story.

"The hunt and I met Orion on an island called Chios. We didn't know it at the time but he was a wanted criminal, and we took note of his exceptional hunting skills, better than any other males. We let him accompany us, since I thought the interaction with someone else would do them good, but I soon began to regret it." She said, obviously reminiscing on the bad memories.

"He quickly became annoying, constantly wanting to talk to me and me alone. He would show off when I was hunting with him, often slipping up and accidentally letting the animal die a slow, painful death in the process. I would later learn that this was because he was desperately seeking my attention, since he was obsessed with me. Orion was weird."

"One night when the Hunters had all gone to bed, it was just me and him by the campfire, even though he was annoying and had no care for the animals I loved and protected so much. This is where the Greeks got that stupid 'I'm gonna kill everything' plot. He was never like that. Boastful, yes, but overconfident, no. He was a bit shy, not talking to anyone except me. Like I said, he was weird, a creep, even." She told me, and I nodded, having met weirdos like that in New York before.

"Anyways, that night, he made some moves on me. The usual, scooting closer, trying to place his hand over mine. I dodged every attempt, and then he started to talk. It was some speech about how he's loved me ever since he met me, and that he wanted to be with me forever, yadda yadda yadda. I was uncomfortable, and told him I didn't feel the same way, and that I was sorry. He didn't take it very well." I noticed Artemis had tears slightly brimming at her eyes.

"He snapped, and pushed me against a nearby tree, and proceed to force himself on me. That bastard didn't get far, thankfully, as I kneed him in the balls immediately, though he did grope me in some places." Artemis wiped some tears that had begun to fall. "I didn't want to kill my only male friend since Hippolytus, so I told him to leave, and never come back, to which he didn't respond."

"I ran into the forest, and let my anger out on a tree, doing so for about half an hour. When I had calmed down, I returned to camp, expecting Orion to have run off by then. I should have killed him when I had the chance." She thought, becoming uncomfortable. "Long story short, I found Orion raping one of my hunters, Phoebe, and I killed him. That's the real story."

I didn't bring it up again, understanding that she didn't like to talk about it. Before we knew it, Hephaestus was holding out another weapon, this time a battleaxe, towards Ares. He didn't tell the war god to do anything, and Ares still put his hand greedily onto the weapon and yanked it out of Hephaestus' hand.

He hastily repeated the incantation. "Μεγάλο χάος, επιτρέψτε μου να ευλογήσω αυτό το όπλο με μεγάλη δύναμη. τη δύναμη να καταστρέψει τους στρατούς, ας το βάλουμε σε αυτό το όπλο. Κάντε το δικό μου να σκοτώσει το κακό, να κάνει τη δική σας τάξη, να γίνει ένα όπλο άξιο ενός θεού!"

This time the magical essence was blood red, and the golden axe absorbed it all. The light from the weapon's shine mixed with the glow of Ares' power made the war good a bit scary, since his entire face looked to be covered in blood.

He didn't stick around like Athena had, instead just leaving to do Hades knows what. Artemis and I turned to each other and I gestured towards the forge. "Ladies first." She smiled, and looked towards Hephaestus. "I'll have a bow, if you can." She said, and of course, Hephaestus nodded. "Of course, any arrow fired from it will be ten times more powerful than your current. An easy working."

Once again, Hephaestus set to work, grabbing a bow mold and walking over to the mixture. Artemis didn't stay to watch, though. She walked back over to me and continued our conversation.

"So how long will you be staying with the hunt?" She asked, and my eyes widened as the wrong idea went through my head. I thought she was subtly trying to insinuate that the hunt wanted me gone, as I realised that I had just been intruding in their lives for the past couple of days.

I blushed, and timidly told her. "I can be gone after this, if that's what you want." This made her back up a bit, realising her mistake. "No, no, no, I didn't mean it like that. The hunters actually like you, especially the young ones. You're the only male they respect, and that's an accomplishment. You can stay as long as you like, I was just wondering if you were planning on leaving." She reassured me.

I nodded, then turned to her. "And what about you? What do you want?" I asked, not wanting her opinion to be left out. Her head tilted, and she smiled at me. "Honestly... I think that's a stupid question Percy, and so do you."

I laughed, and then pulled her in for a side-hug, to which she leaned in and giggled in a very un-Artemis way. "Love you, Percy." My goddess told me. I smiled, and told my goddess the same thing. "Love you too, Moonbeam."

Her head looked up at me with a playful expression. "Moonbeam?" I smirked at her. "You like it?" I asked, hoping her response would be positive. She pecked me on the cheek and whispered in my ear. "I love it." We stood like that for a while, I couldn't keep track.

Our moment was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. We both looked over to see Hephaestus had finished, and was holding a shining object in some cloth. How long were we just standing there?

Artemis broke out of my embrace and approached the god, staring in awe at the bow. Hephaestus held the bow out to her, and she grasped the handle carefully. The god nodded to her to begin, and she went through the spell. "Μεγάλο χάος, επιτρέψτε μου να ευλογήσω αυτό το όπλο με μεγάλη δύναμη. τη δύναμη να καταστρέψει τους στρατούς, ας το βάλουμε σε αυτό το όπλο. Κάντε το δικό μου να σκοτώσει το κακό, να κάνει τη δική σας τάξη, να γίνει ένα όπλο άξιο ενός θεού"

Now the magic was silver, like her eyes, and they swirled around the bow, wrapping it up in power, eventually fading into the weapon. She picked it up, her gaze not leaving the powerful weapon. This kind of power not put her on par with her father, and I could not even begin to imagine what she was thinking and how she was feeling about all this. I still couldn't believe it.

Artemis remained paralysed in her spot, so I stepped up, ready to finish this all up. Hephaestus looked at me expectantly, and I answered his unanswered question with "I'll have a Sword, please." The god nodded, and set to work, while I went back over to Artemis.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, worried. Artemis remained slightly gaping at the bow in her hands. She shook her head in disbelief. "I was shocked when I saw the others' weapons, but this... I don't know what to think. Father, Poseidon and Hades have always been the most powerful, but now.... I need time to think this all through, and with a weapon like this in Ares' hands, I believe that it wouldn't be put to good use."

I had to admit, she was kinda right. Ares didn't seem very trustworthy with a weapon on the same caliber as Zeus' master bolt. This could disrupt the flow of the whole Olympian council, as Zeus may no longer be the most powerful, and could be overthrown. To be honest, depending on who ruled afterwards, I wouldn't mind. It's been established multiple times that Zeus is a terrible king.

I placed my hand on Artemis' shoulder, squeezing it slightly and making her look up at me. I smiled, and told her "Take your time, we don't need to storm Erebus' fortress today. I'm here for you." She smiled, and kissed me on the cheek again. "Thank you, Percy."

We continued to chat for a while more, until eventually we heard Hephaestus drop his hammer with a clang and he turned around. Hephaestus seemed to have gotten the hang of forging things out of these weapons, and made mine much quicker than the other's.

He approached the two of us with a golden sword, the shine of which rivalled Apollo's. It was beautiful, the most finely crafted sword I had ever seen. The blade was sleek and sharp, with no chips unlike Riptide. The handle felt comfortable and firm in my hand. I took it from his hands and immediately felt a change.

The pain that'd shot through me when the blood made contact with my eyes returned, but I didn't react to it. I felt faint, and I began to wonder why the others hadn't felt this way. Soon I began to slightly sympathize with Ares, and I wanted Hephaestus to let go.

Remembering that the process wasn't yet complete, I recited the chant. "Μεγάλο χάος, επιτρέψτε μου να ευλογήσω αυτό το όπλο με μεγάλη δύναμη. τη δύναμη να καταστρέψει τους στρατούς, ας το βάλουμε σε αυτό το όπλο. Κάντε το δικό μου να σκοτώσει το κακό, να κάνει τη δική σας τάξη, να γίνει ένα όπλο άξιο ενός θεού!"

My magical essence was golden, and it flowed through the swords in nice little patterns, only increasing it's glow. I grinned down at it, and Hephaestus let go, allowing me to fully grasp my new weapon. Artemis' voice broke me out of my thoughts.

"Percy, why are your eyes glowing?"

Finally done! Sorry, school's been catching up with me, and I've only been spending about half an hour on this each day. I'll try and do better with the next chapter. See y'all later.

Word count: 3890