Prologue | 7. Hephaestus

The afterlife didn't exactly seem like how Gabriel envisioned it to be. Either that or he was in hell. The glowing lava river and sweltering heat was all he could go off of. 

He was standing on the bank of the spicy river, utterly confused at what's going on.

Well, he could ask the naked man staring at Gabriel about 30 meters away, waving awkwardly towards him, but there was no way Gabriel wanted to go near a sexual deviant from hell. 

"Over here." The exhibitionist weirdo forced a smile. The fact that he was built like a heavy fortress didn't make it any better. He looked like the kind of guy who could grab a man and snap him in two like a branch, then go back home and drink ten pints of beer before beating his wife and going to his farm to kill a pack of coyotes with his bare hands.

Gabriel just turned away from him quickly and contemplated jumping into the lava.

"Hey-hey man." The weirdo yelled a little louder and Gabriel couldn't pretend like he didn't notice him.

"Don't come closer!" Gabriel yelled back. 

"It's okay! I'm not gonna do anything! Sorry!" The man genuinely sounded sorry, despite his terrifying appearance. 

"Okay!" Gabriel yelled. "What is going on??"

The man went silent for a while...then he said, "By the dread Styx, I swear that I am Hephaestus, god of Fire, Machinery, and Craftsmanship. I hath summoned thee to aid me in my escape from mine accursed prison—Mayon, the fiery mount—where an Olympian hath cruelly bound me. Lend me thy aid, and I shall swear to grant thee passage to the Elysian Realm."

Silence...

Then the Goddess Styx felt within Gabriel's brain and assured him that Hephaestus was speaking the truth.

"What the fuck?!" Gabriel stared at the naked God in horror. What also was stuffed into his mind- apart from the untold horror that was the Styx-was Elysium. Heaven. He could almost still feel the lingering peace in that realm. It felt like....home. Like finally retiring after spending decades working in a horrifying job and going back home to meet your family. "Y-you're a god?"

"Indeed" Hephaestus smiled, then limped towards him. His gut jiggled slightly with every step he took. He maintained a sufficient distance of about four meters-thankfully. Gabriel didn't want a naked, terrifying looking man near his private space.

Up close, the man looked even....thicker. How tall was this man? 7 feet?? Impressively heavy as well. If this god of machinery said he competed in strongman competitions, Gabriel wouldn't question it. Although he had an ample amount of fat on his belly, his chest, arms and hands were all taut with muscle. If Gabriel tried running at full speed into him, he felt like he would just bounce back like a tennis ball.

His skin had the color of warm sunset, and wore his Chevron moustache and stubble pretty well, and his medium length, curly salt and pepper hair just hung around messily, doing its own thing. It honestly didn't look too good. A couple of them randomly stood upwards, and made him look like he grabbed an electric fence. He seemed to have quite a few scars across his face and body, as if he was scratched by a lion randomly.

"I was greatly moved by your actions, son." Hephaestus looked down at the puny-looking 5 foot 9 Gabriel. "Despite all that pain....what made you try so hard, for this Thema girl, who you barely even know?"

Gabriel was so overwhelmed that he just shrugged and attempted to think. But nothing came to his mind. His brain refused to think, and just kept yelling, "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!?!!!" with all the other Gabriels short-circuiting and doing the worm on the floor. Not even bringing up his beloved Thema did anything to him. "I uhh..don't know." He said.

Hephaestus gave him a cheeky smile and said, "Sure." then his face went back to being serious. "Listen. I need you to get me out of here. I'll put you in the body of a 13-year old who has just deceased, and I want you to get me out in your mid to late-thirties, okay? I think that's a decent timeline for you to get to Level 7." then he waved his hand around dismissively, "Don't worry about Levels as of right now. Basically, the maximum you can hit is lower level 8. Lower level 7 is good enough to get me out. Got it?"

"Y-yeah. Lower level 7 in my mid-thirties, then come get you out." Gabriel said. He was almost sure he'll be forgetting this information. 

"I'm trapped in Mount Mayon. In the East end of the world, in the ruined country of the Philippines, overrun by monsters. Do NOT enter a pact with any other gods, got it? I have been trapped here by an olympian. They seemed to be either Athena...or..." Hephaestus looked distressed. "Zeus. Or both of them working together. I don't....know. The aura I felt was weird and glitchy. Enter an exclusive contract with me, okay? Do NOT draw any attention to yourself, got it? You work in the shadows."

"Yeah...."

"Repeat what I said."

"Uhm..." Gabriel looked blankly at Hephaestus "I have to help you in my thirties, when I hit lower leevl 7. Level 8 is the highest level."

"Yeees." Haphaestus looked at Gabriel encouragingly.

"I have to help you out of a mountain? Uhm....I have to work in secret...."

"Yes!" Hephaestus grinned. "And..."

"I..." Gabriel tried to rack his brains. "I...don't know. Sorry...it's all just....too much for me."

"I know." Hephaestus said matter-of-factly. "That's why I'm asking you to repeat this. Don't worry, we have unlimited time here. You can stay here until we've both deemed that you know what to do, got it?"

"Yeah..." Gabriel felt uneasy. 

"Dont worry, son." Hephaestus gave him an encouraging look. "You're almost there! About 20 minutes, then you'll be on with your new life!"

"Wait...oh, the 13 year old's body."

"Yeah..you're younger than the 13 years old in our time, so I feel like putting you in a 13 year old's body is suitable. Days here are more than twice as long than your time. 52 hours. Anyways...Enter an exclusive contract ONLY with me, because the gods of Wisdom and the Sky are pretty sus. Got that?"

"Yes..the smart god and the sky god are sus."

"The female smart god. Goddess of Wisdom. Athena. The owl lady."

"Owl lady works for me." Gabriel cracked a smile. "Are there other owl gods?" 

"No. Plus, if you ask anyone for the Owl goddess who's smart, it can ONLY be Athena." 

"Okay. The bad guys are the smart owl lady, and the sky god."

"Okay, there are many sky gods, so it'll be confusing...better to stick with the current king of the gods. Got it? The one who's the king right now. There used to be another sky god king bad guy, but....he's not relevant anymore." Hephaestus shrugged."

"Okay. Smart owl lady. Current king sky god." 

"Yes!" Hephaestus looked happy. "They have a lot of influence, you know?" Hephaestus said. "If you enter a pact with any other god, there's a good chance they might know what you'll do. Since when you enter a pact with a god, they'll be notified of the powers you use. Don't worry about all that now...it's too much useless info. Just remember. ONLY ENTER AN EXCLUSIVE PACT WITH ME! NO OTHER GODS. God it?"

"Got it." Gabriel said. "Exclusive pact only with Hephaestus".

"Yep! Now repeat the whole thing again!"

"Okay..I'm to go down as a 13 year old..get to lower level 7 by my mid-thirties by entering an EXCLUSIVE CONTRACT with you. Because the smart owl lady and current sky king are sus. Come to the....sorry. forgot."

"The love volcano in the Philippines. Remember it like that."

"Love volcano in the Philippines. Love volcano in the Philippines. Love volcano in the Philippines. Love....." Gabriel kept repeating it again. "Okay. Become 13. Get level 7 by mid-thirties. Exclusive contract with you. Smart owl and king sky are bad. Come to the Love Volcano in the Philippines. And I'm guessing....get you out?" 

"Yep. Perfect. Amazing. Once you get to the earth, write this all down as quickly as possible, got it?"

"Got it." 

"Okay....thank you..again. I cannot reach anyone or ask anyone else for help. I'm completely trapped here. I'm sorry. Thank you. Uhh....I'm gonna send you down now, you ready?"

"Yeah. Ready to get to level 7 by entering an exclusive contract with you by my mid-thirties-in this world's time, right?-" Gabriel said this again to confirm he knew everything. "-because the smart owl lady and the current sky king are bad. Then....come get you in the Love Volcano in the Philippines."

"Yes. This world's time" Hephaestus squeezed his lips and gave a tight smile. "You got it. Good. Okay....I'll see you in about 25-ish years then. Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Bye bye now. I'm counting on you, son." 

A trapdoor seemed to have opened underneath Gabriel, and he fell into his new life.