Chapter 44: Hephaestus, son of Hera (1/2)

After a short while, Athena came back with a strange tool in her hand.

It was gray and rectangular, and it folded in two, revealing a black screen and a....keyboard?

Alex was flabbergasted, seeing a full-on laptop in Athena's hands.

”What is that?!” Alex anxiously questioned Athena.

She responded, ”This is what Hermes used to bring you here. He found this thing being sold in Asphodel and discovered he could contact your world with it.”

”WHAT? I was brought here using a computer? And how did you make it work?” Alex was extremely puzzled at this.

”Oh, we discovered that Father Zeus' lightning makes this tool work. So every time Hermes used it, he would just anger Father enough and have the lightning bolts strike it.”

”And once, it seemed the lightning was too strong, as it broke it. And that was the day you came.”

Alex still didn't fully understand the mechanism behind a laptop transporting him from one world to the other, but he asked, ”And, why did you bring it?”

On the other hand, Athena was now the one confused, as she asked him, ”Weren't you going to Hephaestus's place to repair this?”

'That wasn't my main goal, but...fine.' Alex pondered. He informed Athena of his meeting with Prometheus and she nodded in understanding.

”I'm glad to know Prometheus is doing well...It has been so long.” Athena lamented with nostalgic eyes.

”Well..let me show you the way.” She said as they left the temple.

Apparently, Hephaestus didn't live on any of the mountain peaks, and instead inhabited deep within one of the western mountains, next to a nearby volcano.

They walked west, in a direction he's never been before in Olympus.

Passing through a forest and more mountain peaks, the somewhat verdant fauna disappeared, and the ground here was covered in a layer of ash.

The rock was turning darker and darker and Alex could feel some sort of particulate matter in the air, which made it a slight bit harder to breathe.

”Alex, you were planning to visit Hephaestus on your own despite not even knowing where he lives? And even if you did, he wouldn't let you enter and just chase you out.” Athena jokingly said.

Alex sighed and rubbed his head in embarrassment.

As they were speaking, Athena halted in front of the entrance to a cave. The air was somewhat distorted and he could feel an immense heat emanating from the cave.

Athena entered the cave and told him, ”Come on in.”

Alex reluctantly entered and in fact, it was unpleasantly hot inside.

After navigating through the cave for a few minutes, they found a metal door that blocked their passage.

Suddenly, in the corner of his eyes, Alex perceived something moving and was alarmed.

It was a....robot?

When it was fully in sight, Alex realized that it was a moving machine, that was albeit very rustic compared to the robots from his time.

Nonetheless, Alex was shocked that they even had something like this in this era.

The robot was made of metals and as it moved, its various gears and mechanisms made clanking sounds.

It halted in front of them and spoke, ”IDENTIFY Y-OURSELVES.”

The 'robot' seemed to have a very unadvanced voice box, as its voice was extremely mechanical and barely intelligible.

Athena seemed to notice his astonishment, as she commented, ”Hephaestus was always extremely ahead of his time with his creations. This little toy is one of those.”

The 'little toy' in question, then put out its metal arms in front of them.

On its hand, there were three metal molds of different fingerprints.

”One for me, one for Prometheus, and one for him,” Athena said as she put her finger on one of the fingerprints.

It fit perfectly and the bot then went by the door and knocked violently.

Suddenly, the door opened. As it turned out, the door was composed of two separate metal gates, that were pushed open by two similar 'robots' on the inside using levers.

Inside the door was a long tunnel. The ambient temperature was getting a bit unbearable, as Alex was sweating buckets, and Athena seemed to be in a similar predicament.

The two then heard steps approaching them and a voice speaking, ”Who's there?”

As the person approached them, the owner of the voice was now visible.

In all accounts, he looked like an ordinary middle-aged man with a beard. He was very muscular, but his face and appearance were very mundane and not those Alex had come to associate with gods.

His eyes, however, were a fiery orange.