ATN 3: THE JAR IN THE MAZE

WE FIGHT WOLVES WITH HAMMERS

Hephaestus finally turned to us, and with an expressionless face, said, "Well, the Fates found me some help."

We kneeled in front of the lord of the forges. He ordered us to get up, and said, "I know why you two are here. But before I give it to you, I need some help."

"What is it, my lord?" Tina asked.

"My forge has been attacked by telkhines. These idiots have asserted with Jared, and now they have attacked my forge. You see, a war is coming. The giants are rising. I will be needed at that war. That is why, I am preparing myself for it. My followers are fighting in the lower floors, but they need help. Save my forge, and you will get the string."

"My lord," I said, "no offence, but we really are running short on time."

"Okay." Hephaestus said, "Then, good luck navigating through the Labyrinth without the string."

"We are on it." Tina said, as she gave me a stern look.

"Okay, then, get out through that door, get into the elevator, and go to the 3rd floor."

We did. Inside the elevator, Tina asked me, "What on earth were you doing?"

"We are running short on time. There is so much to do."

"But we don't get that string, it takes even more time to find the box. So, just, play along."

"Understood."

We waited while the elevator took us to 3rd floor, for about five minutes. As soon as we got out, we saw fire, which wasn't surprising. We were in a forge, and inside a volcano. Funny thing is, despite all the fire and the heat, the walls of lava won't get molten. That was Hephaestus's doing. However, the problem was that the fire was not exactly in its places. It was here and there, not properly in fireplaces. As soon as we ran out of a balcony, we saw the battle scene. Hephaestus's minions had hammers in their hands. They were all over eight feet tall, with one eye on top of their forehead. Cyclopes! Wow! I thought I would never see them.

The problem was, they were only fifteen, while their opposition were nearly a hundred. The cyclopes were using their clubs, sticks, and other forge weapons. But those telkhines, they had some big hammers. The telkhines were actually wolf like creatures, except for three things: they walked on two feet, they had no tail, and they had no eye-ball in their yellow glowing eyes. Other than that, their long snouts, the grey fur, the fangs, and the body size, they were all exactly like wolves.

Before I could take in, Tina jumped off the balcony, on the floor (Superhero landing). Then, she unsheathed her swords, made a cross, and latched at the wolves. As soon as she attacked the first telkhine, I knew that she could take them all alone. One slash of the sword, and the telkhine turned to dust. It could barely move, such was my girlfriend's speed. I was not even needed. But, what type of Indian would I be if I didn't take part in a fight going on between others?

I jumped on to the scene, and started flicking my fingers, throwing telkhines into fire. But sadly, the telkhines were immune to fire. No harm were done to them. So, I decided to try my best way of killing monsters. I used my petrification spell on them, and crushed them to pieces with my disintegrating spell.

On the other end of the room, Tina was slashing telkhines to dust, and was snarling like a hungry lioness. Her viciousness at war, and cuteness out of war made me fall for her. And now, I was falling all over again. Within ten minutes, we had reduced the telkhines to just one. Tina stabbed it through the heart, and finished it off.

The cyclopes cheered, and ran to us. "Demigods save forge!" One screamed with a husky voice. Another with a rough voice shouted, "Heroes!" They lifted us up, and started dancing.

Just then, Hephaestus entered. In his hand was a violet coloured cable. "Thank you, mortals." he said, "Here is the string." The string wasn't exactly long, but it had a screen on it. Hephaestus touched the screen and gave us a demo. This worked like our smart cell phones, with touch screen. We had to get in to the Labyrinth, and put our destination, and it would show us the shortest way. The string elongated as needed, and glowed, to show us way in the dark paths. The string elongated in the direction we were supposed to go. This thing could only be made by a genius like Daedalus, and could only be digitized by an even bigger genius like Hephaestus.

We thanked Hephaestus. His face remained deprived of any expression. He slammed his uncrippled foot on the floor, and a tunnel opened. "Go through this." He said, "You have shortage of time. This would spend at least ten days journey, and you will end up straight at Themiscyra."

"Thanks, Lord Hephaestus." I said. And as we were about to jump into the tunnel, he said, "Listen, you two. Take someone with yourselves the next time. Your next challenges may not be as easy as the telkhines. The one guarding the box is probably the most dangerous monsters of all."

"Who is that?"

"The victim, victimized by my uncle, and made a monster by the wise one. Just take my advice, and take someone with yourselves the next time. There is strength in number after all."

We nodded, kneeled, waved the cyclopes goodbye, who waved back, grinning, and jumped inside the tunnel.

As we were sliding down, and up, through a roller coaster ride, one thing was clear to both of us. Pandora's box was being guarded by someone very well known to the world. Victimized by Poseidon, and made a monster by Athena, it was the gorgon, Medusa, who was guarding the box. We would have to deal with her. Meanwhile, I kept hold of the string, and as the tunnel came to an end, we found ourselves standing right in front of a cracked wall from the Labyrinth. Tina smashed it with her sword, and we came out right by the beach of Themiscyra, at a Themiscyran evening.