Chapter 10: The Blacksmith

Inside of the massive forge was hot beyond measure. Upon being only a few minutes inside, James immediately began sweating and had a hard time breathing the air because the massive fires blazed within the forge. The heat from the fires blazed a variety of colors of the rainbow and heat so intense it made James' throat parched for water. Ten minutes had now passed and James had to unequip his armor, stripping to the waist.

The sound of hammers upon anvils rang throughout the entire forge. James saw axes, swords, spears, armors and other trinkets being carefully crafted by men and women of various races and monster physiology. James stopped following Marcus, becoming entranced while a tall woman, standing well above seven feet banged away on a large shield. Each movement she made was precise and accurate. The hammer never missed its mark. He watched as the woman carefully molded the shield into a circular shape. The woman stopped from the work she was doing to see James staring at her. She wiped the grime from her face, then took a drink of water from a large cow skin bag and handed it to James.

'Drink,' she demanded in her Brazilian accent.

'I'm not thirsty.'

'This place is hot. This skin contains melted ice from Hel. Drink.'

James did as he was told and brought the skin to his lip. The water was cold, refreshing and immediately lowered the temperature of his body. He handed the skin back to the large woman and she gulped the rest of it down then attached the skin to her belt with the rest of her tools. Upon closer inspection James saw that the woman had bull horns, emerald green hair with dark brown skin, and snake eyes that were the same color as her hair.

'What are you making?', asked James as the woman went back to hammering the piece of metal.

'A shield for the Argonaut King', she responded.

'Argonaut King? As in Jason? King of Iolcus?'

'The very one. This is his shield.' She picked up the shield and dipped it into a bath of oil. Upon taking it out, the shield glowed a beautiful golden shine. The shield was solid gold with a black rams head fused to the middle of it. But the rams' head had six eyes, three on each side. This wasn't the golden fleece. It was something else. Something that gave off a sinister energy and made James sick to his stomach. James began to ball his fists as a large hand clapped his shoulder.

'Best not ta touch that man. Evil energy reeks from that damned thing.'

James looked to see a man with red hair, bronze skin and spartan armor. He had a five o'clock beard and glowing red eyes. A large black wolf, the size of a tiger was by his side. The wolf put its head under James' hand and he began to scratch behind the wolfs' ears as his anger began to vanish. He also noticed the wolf was missing its right hind leg, but thought nothing of it.

'Judging by the black wolf and unrelenting rage and fury that is building within my soul. You must be Ares?', asked James.

Ares laughed then motioned James to follow him.

'Yeah. I'm Ares. My brotha is expectin ya. By the way Imma big fan of your work mortal.'

'My work?' James noticed that Ares' wolf stuck to his side the entire time as Ares led James up a large hill.

'Yes. Your fight with Heracles. To be honest with ya, my brotha had it comin. Thought he woulda lost his mind bein trapped in that Void Prison and all.'

'You know where Heracles came from? What about those six-eyes goats I fought? Also Heracles knew about my-'

'Save ya questions for when we my brotha', said Ares cutting him in a calm demeanor.

James watched as Ares stopped in front of a double door that would have taken a large army to open. Ares stepped to the side and waved at the door as if he was presenting an exhibit to James.

'Open the door, King of Camelot,' said Ares.

James pointed at the door, 'This door?' ,he asked the War God.

'Ya friend Marcus opened the door by himself. It is one of my brothas tests. Ya passed the first one by bein able to withstand the heat of his forge. The temperature of this place burns at the same temperature as the sun.'

James rolled his shoulders then placed his hands upon the door and pushed with all his might.

The door did not budge. Instead James felt his feet slide back. James looked at Ares as he lit a cigar and shrugged his shoulders. James began to look for levers, hidden buttons, pressure plates, anything that could help him open the door. Sadly, he found nothing of the sort. He took a deep sigh and realized that strength could be the answer.

James looked over at the wolf and asked, 'What do you think?'

The wolf titled its head then huffed a sigh before laying down next to Ares.

'Thought so.'

James backed away from the door then sat cross-legged on the ground scanning every inch of the door. Ares lit a cigar and puffed out smoke in the shape of a sword then looked at his wolf and said, 'This might take awhile.'

Back on Olympus, Sekhmet watched from a high perch as James ate the blue colored peach as the woman who gave it to him vanished into thin air. She made sure James was safe as he walked alongside his friend before leaping off her perch and landed without making a sound, then began to run towards the place where the fruit stand once was. Sekhmet sniffed the air and followed the scent of lavender and knew immediately who it belonged to. 'Aphrodite', Sekhmet mumbled to herself as she walked through an invisible barrier that could not be seen by mortal eyes.

Immediately upon entering the room, Sekhmet hit with the scent of a strong aphrodisiac. If Sekhmet was mortal she would have fallen into a hypnotic trance craving nothing but the pure desire to have sex with the goddess who laid sensually on a large chaise lounge. The dress she wore was more like a thin veil that hugged her houri figure. The goddess smiled seductively as she sat up in the chaise lounge, and brushed back her flowing brown hair.

'Sekhmet,' the goddess moaned, 'To what do I owe the pleasure?'

'I will not be another War God for you to conquer, Aphrodite,' said the daughter of Ra, not even trying to hide her bloodlust.

Aphrodite laughed at the remark and licked her lips at the thought of making Sekhmet give into pleasure. The aphrodisiac wasn't working on her and neither were the pheromones Aphrodite released.

'Why have come to seek me out War Goddess?', Aphrodite asked.

'Two things', said Sekhmet as she held her hands together, 'One; what the hell did you give James? And two; Are there any other demi-gods that have been freed from the Void?'

'Well to your first question. I gave the mortal a fruit I have been trying to perfect. Seducing and pleasuring a primordial being such as Nyx, was no easy task I assure you.'

'You seduced Nyx?', Sekhmet laughed.

'I did. I needed her blood to complete the process. I was surprised that the human who ate didn't die after taking his first bite.'

A deep feral growl came from Sekhmet that shook the foundation and ground.

'And, to your second question. There have been rumors that Heracles wasn't the only one who was freed. I think Heracles was supposed to be a distraction, so the others could be freed without being noticed.'

'The matter of the question is; Who was freed?', said Sekhmet.

Aphrodite took a bite of a peach that appeared in her hand, letting the juice purposely run down her mouth before speaking, 'Most likely the sons of Zeus are the ones that were freed. Ouranos' bloodline is that of elder origin. Even though Zeus didn't inherit that power. His children and wardens surely have.'

'And what of you, Goddess of Love. Do the other Olympians know that your mother is one the Eldritch Gods? Or that you, Aphrodite, harbors the darkest power you kept so well hidden?' Sekhmet moved faster than Aphrodite could think as the war goddess was now a few inches from her face. Sekhmet stared into Aphrodite's pink crystal eyes.

'Do they know you harbor hatred deep within your soul?', Sekhmet asked.

The chamber began to shake as the sky darkened into pure black and the air became thick with bloodlust and malicious energy. Aphrodite's hair and the whites of her became black. Her hair was so dark that not even light could pass through.

'You think I freed them?', Aphrodite asked.

Sekhmet stared down Aphrodite for a few seconds and backed away. The sky cleared up as both goddess eyes returned to their human forms. Sekhmet sparked her joint and blew out red smoke.

'The possibility wasn't off the table. But you still know who the other two were freed, yes?'

'Jason. King of Argos.'

'And?'

Aphrodite took a deep breath before answering.

'Achilles.'

James' patience was beginning to thin. He still couldn't figure out how to open the massive door that led to the one of the greatest blacksmiths that had been recorded in history. Ares on the other hand, unlike his impatient demeanor, waited patiently for James.

The God of War wasn't supposed to be here in Yoruba. But the fight with Heracles had impressed Ares so much that he had to see with his own eyes what the mortal truly was capable of. And why Arthur chose James to become Camelot's king.

Ares flipped a knife in his hand while James sat cross-legged in with his eyes closed. Ares stopped flipping his knife as he watched James walked up to the door once again within the past hour he waited.

'This is a door right? Like a normal door?', James asked the War God.

'Last time I checked', Ares answered, 'But it is a door made by a god.'

James' eyes lit up as the answer dawned upon him like the rising sun.

'I get it now.'

Oshe appeared in James' hand and a keyhole that wasn't there before appeared floating in mid-air. James slid the ax into the keyhole and turned to the blades laid flat. A loud click could be heard as the doors began to separate from one another then swing inwards and slide down into the ground. The wolf that was laying next to Ares began to morph into a large man with bronze skin, full beard, and short black locs. He wore no clothing except for black pants that were held up waist belt with a large buckle in the shape of an anvil. The man's left pant leg was ripped away and James could see a leg made of pure titanium.

'Took ya long enough James.' said the stranger in his rough Greek accent.

James was dumbfounded.

'Ah. Apologies. I am Hephaestus, The Blacksmith God. Come, we have a lot to discuss, friend.'

James' private message popped up and saw the sender was from Sakami.

"Found out who the other Demi-Gods are. I will be waiting in Camelot for my reward handsome 😘."

James rolled his eyes and swiped swiped downwards as the message vanished then followed Hephaestus into the inner forge.