A new age of Divinity: Theomachy

Forge of Hephaestus

Eden walked out of Coeus' chamber and made her way to the dock of the River Phlegethon. She waited there for a little bit until Charon finally showed up with a few damned souls. He was about to leave again when he saw Eden waiting at the dock, which confused him.
"Why are you here?" Charon asked, "You are not damned."
"No, we needed to talk to a Titan and he dragged me down here. He let me go and now I need to get back up to Olympus."
Charon sighed and replied "Alright, get on the boat, but don't let any souls escape with you." Eden nodded and got on while watching her back, and while they were rowing back to Hayden's palace, the boatsman asked "Why did you need a Titan's aid?"
"Eh, it does not matter. We got our answers," Eden replied, and for the rest of the ride, they were both quiet.
Charon let Eden out at the dock at the palace and she left without looking back. She knew that the moment she got off and took her eyes off of him, he would be gone, so she didn't bother. She pushed the doors open and walked through the castle. She got to the throne room and Hayden didn't stop her, letting her go to the doors. She pushed them open and walked through the blinding light, out into Olympus. Eden did not feel like walking back to the reserve, so she created a massive spike of roots. It was meant to be a beacon... and it seemed to work. Kenneth appeared in front of her and moments later, Mikayla showed up behind her in a sparkling pink and blue cloud.
"Eden, what happened!?" Mikayla exclaimed.
"We talked, he told me how to get in, and he also told me everything about the Titan arc."
"Huh, you were taught all that?"
"Yeah, why, how long have I gone?"
"Just a few seconds," Kenneth replied "But you were in Tartarus with a Titan who clearly wanted to... why did he not kill you?"
"I talked him down, but that is not important, we need to go down into his forge."
"Okay... how?"
"Jump down, not into the hole, onto the roof, and we find the door," Eden explained, then she turned to Beth "You go first." Athena's daughter nodded and walked over to the edge.
After judging how far she would need to jump, Beth took a running start. She leapt off of the edge of the cliff and fell through the air toward the forge. As they watched her land on her chest and bounce off the silver roof, Mikayla thought of something. Beth's limp, lifeless body rolled and slid off the roof and fell at Hephaestus' front door.
"Eden?" Mikayla asked, her arms crossed and her gaze directed down at Beth "Was that actually how we're meant to get in?"
"No," Eden replied. "But, I am still upset with Beth for getting us into the situation she has."
"So you told her to kill herself?"
"Oh, she is fine. There are stairs over here, come on." She led her friends to the stairs to Hephastus' forge, and after about twenty minutes, they finally found Beth's body "Alright, bring her back." Mikayla nodded and used a spell to resuscitate Beth... which inevitably involved a lot of coughing on the latter's part "You did not actually think that was the way in, right?" Beth looked up at her significantly shorter companion "There were stairs."
"Then why!?"
"Because everyone else has gotten their anger at you out. Now get up, we need to get this over with." Beth rolled over and pushed herself back up as Eden knocked on the massive door "Hm... maybe they did not hear?" She stepped forward and knocked again, even harder this time, but again, no answer "I do not have time for this." Eden created a fist of roots and slammed it against the door... and they finally heard someone walking toward them "Finally." The doors opened and they came face to face with a robot that was half the size of a Gigantes "Hello, Talos." The bronze Automaton tilted his head to the side "We seek an audience with my uncle, Hephaestus." He glared down at the four for a moment longer, then when he had assured himself that they meant his forging partner no harm, Talos moved aside to let them in.
As they walked through the door, they were instantly hit with a blast of heat. The spell around Hephaestus' forge clearly wasn't just there to protect him, but also to keep the mountain from melting because of the heat his forge created. How they were not being melted, none of them knew. Hephaustus was massive, about half the size of Talos. The Masonry God's skin had been darkened by the fire he worked surrounded by every day. His arms were massive, seemingly built of pure muscle. He could easily pick anything up and throw it into his forge without any issue. He rolled around in a gigantic wheelchair that would crush any of them without even slowing down. While his arms, back, and chest were built like how a God was normally seen as, his legs... not so much. They were both limp and gangly, making it perfectly understandable as to why he was in a wheelchair. His feet were both deformed to the point that even if his legs did work, they would be rendered completely useless.
"Uh... hey, Hephaestus?" Mikayla greeted him, which prompted the deformed deity to turn around "How's it going?"
He looked down at her and coughed up a mouth full of split, then replied "H-how is it g-g-going?" He laughed horsley, the smoke and soot he had inhaled over the years clearly having messed with his entire system "I-I-I have been here for y- ye- years. What could you pos- possibly want with me?"
"We uh... need your help fighting Athena?" Kenneth replied slowly.
"No."
"What?" Mikayla asked "No!? We came all the way down here to find your dumbass and you won't give us any help at all!? Just no?"
"I ne-never said I would not he-he-help you," Hepheastus chuckled, the black smoke darkening his spit as it flew out of his mouth "I c-can not fight, you s-s-see... but I will ma-make you any weapon you n-need."
"Oh, well, no offense, but we already have weapons," Kenneth apologized as they all took out their weapons "They have suited us quite well thus far."
"Ah... ye- yes, those are sturdy we- we- weapons..." Hephaestus agreed "I w-will restore and improve the... wha- what is that?" He pointed his masonry tongs down at Beth's hip, specifically, at Nate's sword "Wha- what kind of me- me- metal is that?"
"Huh? Oh, this?" Beth took the blade out of its sheethe, showing the Bifrost reinforced Asgardian Steel blade "It is my best friend's sword. He is an Asier, so it was built from Asgardian materials."
"May I... see it?" Beth nodded and tossed it up to him and he caught it in his palm "Hm... y- yes, this has strange power i- in it."
"It's called Bifrost, buddy," Mikayla explained "Bridge from Midgard to Asgard? He can use its power and turn it into his own. Why, what about it?"
"I ha- ha- have seen everything alloy, ev- every type of e- e- energy," Hephaestus explained "But this... I h- have never come across-s."
"So, can you work with it?"
"Hm... n- no, I do not do this. Ho- however, let us s-s-see what I can do for y- your armaments."
They all handed him their weapons and the material they wanted their new armors to be made of. Hephaestus worked for hours on the weapons, almost recreating them in his own image. The tip of Beth's spear was laced with quartz and the hilt was lined with silver. The blade of Kenneth's sword was reinforced with lead and gold. The chains on Mikayla's daggers were strengthened by a gold silver alloy. Since Eden didn't carry a weapon with her, Hephaestus got to work with her armor right away. He took her in his palm and made a mold of her legs, chest, arms, feet, and hands. He put her down and chose the lightest weight metal for her armor, then melted them down, and poured them into the mold. He made molds and armor specifically made for the rest of them as well. The metals he chose were all light weight and malleable so they could all move easily in battle. He made them all cloths which covered their legs down to their knees. It was nothing strategic, it was just for looks, so he let them customize them. Beth opted for an owl, for she wanted a constant reminder of who she was fighting. Kenneth decided to take a sword and shield, his mother's favorite types of weapons. Eden took that of a root in the shape of a cross, showing her role as the healer. Mikayla couldn't think of anything, so she just took something that looked like one of her spells. With their new armor and weapons, they all stood together, ready for anything.
"N- now you look r- r- ready to face Athena," Hephaestus told them "B- but first, you must f- fi- find the blood of a Go- Gorgan." Everyone was shocked, how did he know about that "Oh, p- p- please, I am stuck in h- here, but I still get in- in- information. L- L- Let me tell you where i- i- it is."