Chapter 7: Steel divinity
Flare landed on the edge of the Forest of Blades. Just as the name indicated, several huge swords, knives and other metallic weapons rose from the ground. As she entered and went deeper, the sounds previously heard, something you'd find in a normal forest, ceased and only the wailing of the metal was audible.
She wandered in the strange forest for an entire day. Unsuccessful in finding her main objective, she slept in a crevice dug by unknown beings. Albeit it was silent, it was exactly this why she couldn't sleep for quite a while.
It was way before dawn when she woke up. Deciding that as she was already up, she might as well continue searching for the Keeper of Metal. The light started coming into the forest in orange colors and showed her a small path. Flare was following it until ending abruptly by one of the bigger blade trees. From afar, growling and bestial crying could be heard. Being curious, the harpy followed the sound.
Upon arriving at a clearing, she met an interesting sight.
A big, silver lion was scratching some sort of plant. To her, the plant was the off one by now. As she got slowly closer, the feline sensed her and turned on Flare. As a defense, she cast a flaming wall between the animal and her.
"I don't know if you understand me or not but I'm not an enemy. My name is Flare, and I'm the apprentice Keeper of Fire. I travel the territories to aid their people and meet the ancient Keepers. If you need help, I'll do what you want."
As if the lioness understood her, turned back to the plant and started knocking on it with her paws. Flare cleared the barrier and got closer. Then she noticed it. A cub was entrapped inside the roots of the plant. The girl clawed at the plant but was surprised to see that not even a single scratch was visible on it.
"It's time to turn blue. You stand back a bit."
The feline looked worried as the harpy turned blue and emitted just a bit more flames.
"Don't worry. Your cub won't be hurt."
She took off and grabbed a root with her claws. Fire erupted from the talons and burnt through the plant like it was nothing. This repeated until there was enough space for the mother to squeeze her head through. The lioness got hold of the cub and went away of the plant, which Flare burned down and turned back to her regular, red color.
"This didn't belong here anyways."
As she turned to the lions, she noticed that the mother wasn't there anymore. Instead a man sat there with the cub on his lap.
"Hello there!"
"General Kenobi… Anyways, who are you, and where is the mother of the cub?"
"There was no mother, I shapeshifted into one. You see, this cub lost his family not too long ago. I'm taking care of him. My name is Hespeos; I'm the ancient Keeper of Metal. It's nice to meet you, Flare Fenichs, Keeper of Fire in the other world."
"As expected from the Ancient Keeper. But why did you do this little shenanigan?"
"It's obvious, isn't it? This was my test to you. You're a Keeper, you need to help those in danger. And so you did. Thus, you are worthy of my reward."
"Was it really this easy? I just can't accept this."
"I know your next host and task, and let me tell you, creating an easier job is the least I can do."
"Does that mean that I should be afraid of the next Keeper?"
"Not really, he's quite the nice fella if you get to know him better. Now come, I'll invite you to lunch."
The earth shook and a mansion made of various metals rose from the ground. It sparkled in the sunshine and as Flare stepped into the building, she met pure luxury. The place was something you could describe as a modernized medieval house. Everything that wasn't metal was either glass or food. A modern looking oven, a chandelier with lightbulbs, hell, there even was a television in the living room made solely of glass.
Hespeos went into the American style kitchen and looked at the harpy.
"What will you have?"
"I'm fine with everything."
"Then we'll have my favorite. Please, enjoy yourself, this will take around an hour."
"Sure."
The hour went by quite fast, as Flare, after finding every nook and cranny in the house watched the Keeper cook. He gestured towards the table, to which she sat.
"Errm… Meatloaf with tomato sauce? And salad?"
"Almost, this is a type of that food from the nation you were born in."
"Wait, this is Greek food?"
"Keftethes with sauce and feta salad. The absolute best food in both worlds. This reminds me of my younger years, when I was considered as a deity to the old worlds' people."
"Greek deity? Old world? Hephaestus?"
"Correct. You seem to be quite the intelligent girl."
"And this is delicious. May I know who my next host will be?"
"You didn't even get your reward… I'll tell it after that. Now eat up."
A nice lunch and some rest later, the two exited the house and were greeted with a plethora of indigenous animals, which was obvious thanks to their metallic color.
Hespeos turned to the harpy and motioned towards the animals.
"Just as you command the hellhounds, I give you the right to summon one of my subordinates. Be advised, though, you can only choose one, and it's irrevocable."
Flare looked around, stared at the ground for a while, then turned to the Keeper.
"Say, Hephaestus, do you, by any chance have the Colchis Bulls in your possession?"
"Going for my most prized beasts, eh? Look who's brave here! That old geezer Aeetes is dead for a couple of centuries now and I don't think he needs them in Elysium. It'll take some time to fetch them from Hades' stall, but he'll give them back for sure. They are going to stand ready when you return to your own world."
"No problem. Sorry guys, not today!" She said while turning towards the other animals.
As if they were understanding her, the mass dispersed and minutes later, only the cub remained on the porch area.
"Now to answer the question you've been bugging me with. Your next destination will be the territory in which the Keeper of Darkness resides. It's west from here. You'll know when you're there when you see the pine forest, then everything goes black. Only your fire can help you with not hitting anything. As soon as you find a clearing, stay there. It will be easier for him to find you than the other way around. Have a safe journey, Keeper."
"Was nice to meet you. Thank you for everything!"
With this, she took off to her next goal, the territory of Darkness.
A/N: It's good to be back. Sorry for the huge pause, I had some personal troubles to deal with.
But now I'm back and going full steam ahead. (Hopefully.) I want to get back to my schedule and I have so many new ideas, it'll be a pain to assess them into whole projects. Nevertheless, I'm hyped for what's coming and I'll take my writing as a priority matter.
I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!