New God of the forge.

chapter 16

Going down on his carriage, Hephaestus was on his way towards the home of the enforcers, the titans that had Allied themselves with Zeus and the Olympians during the Titanomachy and were among Zeus’s most trusted allies. Hephaestus doesn’t have any kind of relationship with the enforcers and has only ever saw their abode once, a couple of years ago when Athena and Artemis were training under Nike the Titan Goddess of victory.

The carriage that he was on was being pulled by his two pets, Asími and Chrysós, normally they’d be humongous creatures but that’s only when they’re on guard duty but now that they’re pulling his carriage their size was reduced to be more manageable. His mortal past self would be quite ecstatic to ride a carriage being pulled by a golden Dog and a silver lion but now that he was Hephaestus it was pretty standard and unexciting however he was quite impressed by how grand the mountain range beneath Olympus was.

His carriage eventually made it to his destination as it lands on the vibrant green grass beside a clear blue lake, as he landed his figure was scrutinized by the people he came to visit. Stepping out the carriage and touching the grass with his shoes he greeted the enforcers.

“Good afternoon to you all, Lady Nike and Bia, lord Kratos and lord Zelus”

He said with a bow, shaking their hands would take too long. If he recalled correctly each of these individuals was a force to be reckoned with. Nike the personification of victory, Kratos the personification of Strength, Bia the personification of force and Zelus the personification of Zeal/faith. The domains they preside over are quite strong infact one could even describe them as Hacks, especially so for Nike and Bia.

“You look different son of Zeus”

Kratos was the first to speak addressing the matter regarding his looks, he understood honestly, he wasn’t exactly known for his handsomeness in the past.

“Yeah, I had to do some changes a little”

“Now your looks are truly befitting of a God, I approve of these changes you made”

“I thank you lady Bia, lord Kratos I’ve come to ask for your help”

Deciding to disregard the rudeness of the statement said by Bia he got right to the reason why he is here. As the one who rules over the concept of strength, Kratos was the most apt God for him to test his own strength and see his limits. Aside from the fact that he knew of no one else to help him since Athena wasn’t there he also wanted to humble himself a bit, he didn’t want to defeat an Olympian God and then get arrogant  just because he defeated one God out of many, he needed to see how he measured up against the truly strong he can then be arrogant afterwards.

“With what?”

“I wish for you to spar with me to test my strength”.

“what!! no don’t ask him, if you want a spar then I’m the better choice.”

Nike immediately Volunteered herself, to which Hephaestus grimaced slightly. He had nothing against Nike herself it’s just that he plans to come for a spar regularly and if he spars with her, he will never win in any type or form and he’ll never be able to track his progress, at least with Kratos he can just consider landing a punch a win but with Nike that punch would be impossible to land.

‘Wait a minute…’

“I’m sorry lady Nike maybe tomorrow? I do plan on coming back regularly”

He expressed, something had occurred within his mind and made him accept her offer. Befriending Nike and having a good relationship with her should allow him to be able to create Excalibur, he can try and see if she can detect someone else trying to use her concept of victory and maybe with her permission he could make an Excalibur imbued with her concept.