[3rd Person Pov]
Silena was impressed by how little things went her way in her life.
It was a typical concern shared by most demigods she knew, but at some point, specifically when automatons start taking potshots at you with a refrigerator, she knew she drew the short end of the stick by a wide margin.
"Why are they attacking us now?!" She yelled over the sounds of rushing wind, explosions from half a dozen projectiles flying their way, and a bronze dragon wailing in stress while breathing fire.
Leo ducked as a golden Lepricon head sailed over his, "I think they are taking the same side with Zonos!"
Silena bit back a French curse. This was not the time for an instructive allegory about the wasteful nature of human, or in this case, god society. Charlie might be dying inside the giant by each passing second as they spoke—there wasn't a moment to waste.
Despite her determination, however, Skaw was too big of a target to make it higher up than they already was.
Old fashioned canons went ablaze, not caring if they missed and hit Zonos in the thigh. Rusted javelins attached with chains aimed at Skaw's under belly, trying to drag the dragon down to the ground, where countless broken automatons were waiting with their weapons ready.
"How are they even moving?!"
"Zonos is giving them life," Leo explained, although even he couldn't tell how he could realize such things, "That's not an ordinary automaton. It has a more…demanding aura than the rest."
One of the flaming projectiles slammed Skaw at her right cheek. The dragon jerked her head sideways with a cry of pain, nearly throwing Silena off her neck as she struggled to keep them airborne.
Silena looked up at where the giant's head should be. The giant was so tall that she couldn't even make out its chin from all the way down between its thighs.
There was no other way. She had to draw her most secret card.
"Leo, take my place for a second."
"Wait, what?"
Ignoring Leo's complaints, Silena pulled out a small notebook from her pocket and quickly flipped through the series of notes she had written down, until she found the spell she was looking for.
"deduc me per angiportum umbrarum, ubi non calcaverit amplius homo!" She shouted, hoping that Serephone didn't pull a nasty prank on her, and this was a legit spell for what the Empousa called 【Shadow-Travel】.
For a fleeting second, nothing happened. Leo glanced over his shoulder, wondering if Silena went insane and babbled some nonsensical words. At that exact moment, they swooped between the giant's legs and flew straight into the shadow in between.
Right before Skaw collided into the inner thigh of the giant, the bronze dragon and her two companions phased into the shadows as cold as the depth of space.
It was only a second-long experience, but both Leo and Silena hated every bit of it.
They were in complete darkness filled with strange, echoing noises which sounded as if someone made every wild animals in the world sing a chorus, and right before returning to the over world, a cold hand seemed to grip their spine, forcefully suggesting that they don't leave this realm of cold darkness.
And then, they ended up high up in the sky right next to Zonos's neck, which Skaw crashed into head-first and plopped on the shoulder.
Leo fell off by Skaw's tail and stay down with his arms and legs all sprawled out, panting wildly as a cold shiver went down his spine.
"We are never doing that again. Never. Nunca—"
"I'm not planning to do more," Silena replied. She was shaken as much as Leo was, if not more—now she understood why her secret magic tutor was such reluctant on telling her the specific incantation.
But whether it was a scarring experience or not, they made it through the relentless shelling from the automaton army below, and she wasn't going to let this chance go to waste.
A quick inspection rewarded her with a rusted door that would lead to the insides of the giant's head. It was scratched and bent slightly by the edge, which suggested that it was wrenched open recently.
"Charlie must have went through this door," Silena guessed, "We need to open it."
Leo looked over Silena's shoulder, "That's easy."
He held out a finger, put it against the joint of the door and focused. Within seconds, his finger went ablaze, heating up the hinges until they weakened, at which point Skaw tore the door off like a sheet of paper.
Behind the door was a small tunnel downward with no ladder or lift for a safe entry.
"That's a one-way fall," Leo said, looking down the seemingly endless tunnel. He nervously glanced at Silena, "If someone is actually down there…I don't think they'd be—"
"Charlie is down there," Silena said with defiance, "He was alive when the Myrmekes took him to the Ant Hill…"
She couldn't help but smile a little from the strange coincidence of the two events—both where Charlie was taken by an undefeatable foe, and she'd find a bronze dragon to help her rescue him. When they go on a date after this, she'll have to make sure it would be dragon automaton-free.
Leo, on the other hand, had no idea what Silena was talking about, but before he could be the voice of reason for the first time in his life, a bronze polearm sailed through the air and sliced his cheek.
Some of the automatons—ones with better flight abilities—had caught up to them.
A handful of small metallic birds and miniature copies of various flying monsters scattered as Skaw roared and belched fire. She was quite proud of herself, until a flying golden pig slammed into her side and they tumbled through the air as they dived down.
Meanwhile, Leo's eyes were fixated on the one remaining automaton that hadn't angered the bronze dragon.
"…You've got to be kidding me," He muttered as his guardian angel, which had been torn to shreds—now haphazardly reattached, stood against him.
"I-I am sorry, Νεαρωας," The rebuilt Kythera said in a scrapped voice, "T-th-his body, is not mine. The ori-iginal, automat-ton, has t-the c-con-control. D-don't hold-d back-k!"
The automaton body reached out, and the polearm returned to her hand. Leo stood in place, stunned and confused to what he should do, when he felt a hand cover his shoulder.
Silena looked down at the young boy, and against her better judgement, handed him her short sword.
"There will always be times when situations that you don't want to face come to you," She said. Her empty hand traced where the necklace used to be, "At that moment, the choice you make will reflect who you are."
Leo looked down at Silena's sword. After a second long pause, he took the weapon and faced his guardian angel. The edge of the immovable bronze lips of the automaton seemed to smile as its damaged body took stance with the polearm.
Silena turned her back as the first clash sounded between them. A chill ran down her spine as she looked down the void. The recent Shadow Travelling didn't aid on her decision to jump into the darkness.
However, she also knew that making tough decisions were worth it sometimes. And this one was definitely fit the bill. With a final deep breath, Silena threw herself into the cavern.
[Line Break]
The fall was much longer than Silena had prepared for, up to the point where she wondered if she was falling all the way to the sole of the giant.
However, right when it seemed the drop would be endless, she landed on a springy ground.
Silena stood up with difficulty. Although the elastic floor reduced the damage, the marital of the terrain wasn't soft.
When Silena felt around in the dark, she realized the platform was made of thick, sturdy wires and cables entangled with each other.
"Charlie?" She called.
The voice echoed against the metal walls, but in spite of her wishes, nothing answered—or so she thought.
A huge oval shadow loomed forward from within the depths of the darkness, only recognizable because the mysterious figure was ever so slightly brighter than its surroundings.
"Who's there?" Silena shouted again.
Her hands automatically reached for her sword, until she remembered that she had handed her only weapon to a 12 year old with barely any training.
Maybe that wasn't a smart choice to make after all.
Silena looked up at the enclosing shape again and gasped.
Now, it was hanging right over her head, held up by countless wires spreading from its back, which was highly grotesque because the shape itself was a face.
The face was made of the same bronze as the giant. It was as if Zonos had ripped his face off and swallowed it to see who dared to enter his brain. And to the further amazement of Silena, the suspended face opened its lips and spoke.
"How peculiar…" The giant face muttered, its voice low and firm, "We're surprised to find a human risking one's life for us. And a daughter of Aphrodite at that…"
"Who are you? And who is we?" Silena demanded.
Without any weapons, her best option was to talk her way through whatever problem may arose. Her magical abilities had a long way to go before they became practical in a situation like this.
The bronze face tipped forward to look down on the demigoddess.
"My name is Zonos. The first human of the Bronze Age, and the first animaes—breathing metal. And we are those who were discarded by the gods, and ignored by our father: Hephaestus!"
A wave of clattering and banging came from the outside. Even without Leo to translate machine-language, Silena understood those noises as applause.
She stared at the gigantic face of Zonos, lost for words.
Not only was the giant's statement overwhelming, but as a daughter of Aphrodite she could sense a deep layer of sorrow and pain within the giant's deep voice.
But this was not the time to feel sympathy for a possibly thousands of years old automaton, or animaes.
"Where is Charlie?" She demanded, looking straight into the giant's eyes, "Where is my…friend?"
"A friend, you say?" Zonos repeated her last word, "Such a shame. He holds you much more dearly than a friend."
"I-" Silena could feel her face heating up. She couldn't believe that a bronze giant taller than a sky scraper was commenting on her love life. "That's not important right now! How can you even tell that?"
The bronze face shook slightly as it chuckled.
"Of course I can tell. When your friend entered my head, he linked his brain with mine. We shared our memories with each other.
Although, my memories seemed to burden him…that's why I let him rest."
The head spun around on the spot. Beckendorf was lying in a capsule made of similar wires and cables suspending the bronze head.
"Let him go!" Silena shouted, dosing her voice with Charmspeak.
However, the head of Zonos spun back to face her properly, "Let him go? I am not keeping him against his will, Silena Beauregard.
We understood each other's anguish; because we suffered under the same heartless father! An outsider like you will never understand."
"I'm not an outsider!" Silena replied, "Charlie is…"
But as soon as she raised her voice, they died out.
Who was Charlie to her?
She had firmly believed that she was in love with Charles Beckendorf, and yet only now did she realize that she knew scarcely little about her crush.
She called her Charlie because no one in Camp called him with his name—but what else could she say about Charlie?
"…He is…"
Zonos sneered as Silena struggled to finish her words, "We are used to getting overlooked, as is the fate of Blacksmiths—the crowd cares for our products, not ourselves!
Why do you think Aphrodite disregarded Hephaestus as her husband? Even the goddess of Love couldn't bother to look at the maker of all her precious jewelries and magical items!"
Silena stood speechless—stunned as Zonos got more angry as he continued ranting on.
"The automatons thrown away in this Junkyard share our pain!
They are overlooked, doomed to be forgotten in a wasteland, because down at their core, the gods are uncaring beings!
They cannot, nor will not hear our desperate cries; listen!"
Suddenly, a thick wire rose up from the ground and shot toward Silena.
She ducked under the metal cable, but it swerved around and struck her at the back of her neck.
"Ah!" Silena shirked in panic and tried to yank it away, but the cable latched on her neck like a leech.
The long cord glowed in a blue light, and a few seconds later, a wave of unfamiliar voices surged into her brain.
'I want to live…I can still, live…'
'Why do we have to rot away...while the gods rule for eternity?'
'We deserve happiness too…!'
"Augh—" Silena stumbled to her knees, clutching her head.
The hundreds of thousands of voices moaning and wailing was too much for her to handle.
She gripped the cable connected to her neck and pulled on it as hard as she can, even stomping on it with her feet to get an extra tug until she managed to rip it off.
The skin where the cable latched on stung badly, but Silena was more glad that the voices were gone—until her ears picked up the clattering and banging from the outside again.
Except now, she recognized the chilling resemblance between those noises and the crying voices that conquered her head a second ago.
"T, those voices, they were…"
"The voices of the automatons who responded to my call," Zonos answered the unfinished question.
"I have lived since the beginning of the Bronze Age; from its start to the end, when the gods decided to wipe our race clean on a whim!
Ever since then, the only companions were my discarded brethren."
"I-what?" Silena asked, confused by the flow of information getting laid out.
She was yet to recover from the horrific wails of the abandoned automatons. However, the upset giant Zonos didn't hesitate with his rant.
"The Olympians swept their failures under the rug and tried to bloom a new age of human over our corpses—the Age of Heroes! Heroes, such like you!"
Countless cables writhed up from the floor like a pack of snakes.
Before Silena could even consider hiding or running, they simultaneously flew towards her and quickly restrained her limbs.
"What are you doing?!"
The face of Zonos turned away, giving her a glimpse of Beckendorf, still unconscious in the capsule.
"Don't feel too bad, daughter of Aphrodite. When I connect you into my mainframe along with the son of Hephaestus, I'll be much more than a mere thinking automaton. I'll fully regain my old self!"
"You tricked Charlie!" Silena realized, "You just wanted his skills!"
She pummeled at the thick wire keeping a firm grip around her waist, tried to tear away the smaller ones wriggling under her clothes and consume her, but there were too many to thwart them all.
The Bronze Giant smiled, "He doesn't know that—nor will he figure that out in the next millennia if things go as planned."
Silena tried to curse at the giant, or hopefully, utter some magic spell that might break through the situation, but her voice failed her as countless cables swarm around her and formed a similar capsule.
And everything went black.
[Line Break]
"Duck!"
"Eek!"
Leo ducked as the polearm swung over his head. The axe blade was dangerously close from splitting his head open from the temple.
A few strands of his curly brown hair fluttered through the air as Leo backed away from another vicious strike from Kythera.
"Y-you ar-re, rel-luctant," The mangled automaton noted. The one eye that was still intact whized around in 360 before landing on its target, "A-at thi-is ra-ate, I'll-ll end-d up ki-illing-g you, Νεαρωας."
Leo forced a smile. It was his primary method of handling stressful situations, and he was extremely stressed right now.
"You've gotta cut me some slack here, I'm trying to get used to everything."
"Move left!" Kythera screeched. Leo dodged left, and the spear stabbed where his stomach was a second ago.
"T-the world ne-never waits for y-you, Le-eo. It will ha-and you one dis-saster after another."
"Copy that," Leo muttered. There couldn't be a better phrase to explain his life.
The mangled automaton swung the axe again. This time, Kythera couldn't warn ahead in time and managed to knocked Leo backwards.
"Get up!"
Broken joints of the automaton creaked and shuddered, fighting for control of its own body as it tried to hobble toward the young son of Hephaestus.
Leo groaned. His fingers fumbled against the slipperly metal floor as he stood on his feet.
Why did he have to go through all of this mess? Was it because he had a god for a dad instead of a normal man?
If so, he seriously doubted the benefits of having a holy heritage at all. It didn't do him any favors until now, that's for sure.
The young demigod back away from another strike from his second nanny. Kythera yanked the spearhead from the ground, tearing a hole in the floor as if it was made of wet tissue.
He just wanted to help her. The one person—or being, who didn't demand anything from him, or loathed him for existing; he wanted to help her.
That was the sole reason why he took the sword.
With a defiant yell, Leo step forth for the first time. The automaton took a swing at his head with the axe, but Leo managed to duck under the swing and slashed the bronze neck.
If it were a regular human, it would have been a fatal strike. But the broken automaton
"A hero's fate...it is never happy," Kythera muttered, limping towards Leo.
He noticed that her voice wasn't distorted. She wasn't talking through the machine anymore.
"I...wish, I could've protected you from it. But no one cannot escape their Fate..."
Leo watched as his guardian angel struggled to stand up. And when she did, he was surprised to find tears falling from her bronze, mechanical eyes.
"How are you—"
"The men during the Bronze ages," Kythera answered, "They are said to have Bronze skin like a machine, yet they could also feel love and hate..."
But, even with the overflowing tears, the bronze body went for the offense again.
"You will become a great hero one day, Leo. One of the greatest Olympians had guaranteed that," She said miserably, "Please, I don't want to be the foil of your glory."
"Foil of my glory?" Leo repeated in astonishment.
He swung the blade against the spearhead, cutting the pointy edge.
"I don't want any glory!"
The short sword glowed hot red as Leo struck again, pushing back the automaton further. He had never learned how to use a blade before, but he knew how to utilize a sword by heart.
"I didn't want anything grandiose in my life! I just wanted a family—a mom!"
With a sharp clanging noise, the heated bladed snapped the polearm in half.
As the automaton staggered back, Leo followed up by ramming himself into the stomach and they both toppled to the ground.
Kythera looked up as Leo hoisted the red-hot blade over his head.
This will be your first step toward greatness, Νεαρωας.
She closed her eyes as the ending strike came down ferociously.
"...?"
Then, Kythera opened her eyes.
The sizzling blade was stabbing through the metal floor an inch away from the automaton's face. Its heat melted through the floor with ease.
"L-Leo," She stammered, "Y, you sh-should have—"
"For the last time, Tía Callida," Leo murmured, "If you want me to grow, stop telling me what to do."
Kythera stammered some more, but no words came from the automaton's gaping mouth. Kythera stared at the boy who she used to take care of as he cradled the automaton's head ib his hands.
"I can listen your voice," Leo muttered, "I can hear your pain and suffering."
"It's painful, isn't it? Being ignored, being cast away...I understand your pain. I went through the same thing over and over again."
Kythera realized with a jolt that, Leo wasn't talkijg to her. He was talking to the original owner of the body; the automaton, or more specifically, the spirit of the Bronze Human that she was latched on to.
"L, Leo..."
She tried to warn her child that the Bronze Humans were violent and ruthless by nature. They were the race whose fists were faster than their words.
"But no matter how unfair and upsetting it is, there is no use holding a grudge over someone else, right? Let her go."
Kythera grit her teeth as she felt the soul of the Bronze Human stirr. She will not let it take full control over the body. She will never allow it to harm Leo—
Very well, Νεασιλιάς(Young King).
May our suffering be heard by the τύραννος(Tyrant).
Kythera gasped as she was suddenly expelled from the body. Leo set the body on the ground as white mist gushed out from its mouth and collected into a small cloud.
From within the cloud, a maiden peaked out, her eyes widened with astonishment.
Leo looked up with his trademark grin, "I always knew there was only one of you. How did you even control the second body whenever the body divided?"
"That's...not the concern here, Νεαρωας," The Nephelae—cloud spirit—stammered, "How did you convince the Bronze Human—"
"Humans," Leo replied, looking down at the mangled automaton. It bowed to Leo before sulking back out of the room.
"There was two of them inside one body. You told me a story about people like that before. What were they called again? It started with an Andro—"
"The Androgynous." Kythera answered.
Although she could feel her essence was already returning to that cursed island, her chest swelled up with pride and relief that Leo remembered the stories she told him.
On the other hand, Leo realized that the cloud Kythera was shrouded in was slowly fading into the sky.
"Wait, what is happening to you?" He demanded.
"It is time for me to return to my prison, Νεαρωας."
"Prison? No! I just did that so that you won't leave!"
Despite Leo's outburst, Kythera couldn't help but smile.
Perhaps a minute ago, she would've been worried sick to leave him behind, but now, even though he seemed to be whinning yet again, she could trust him.
"All birds must leave their nest behind at one point, Leo Valdez. You have said it yourself—I cannot tell you what to do anymore. You have surpassed that point in your life."
"But I'm not ready—I don't want—"
"Shh," Kythera swooped down, and with the remainder of her fading form, gave Leo a soft embrace.
"Do not fret, Leo. I will always be here." She whispered, tapping at Leo's heart.
"Your blood may flow from Hephaestus, but you have something neither he, nor his mother has: A caring heart for those beneath you.
As long as you retain that heart, I'll always be with you...
...Perhaps, you may be the Hero to rescue our mistress one day."
Kythera let go of Leo as her arms faded away as well. Leo fumbled at the dissipating arms, but his fingers scraped through thin vapors as if he was trying to cling on to a cloud.
"What Mistress? Where are you going?!"
Kythera chuckled and looked far into the horizon, "Back to the first child I have ever raised, mi hijo(my son). A child, courageous and strong-willed just like you."
"Who?" Leo demanded, almost feeling jealous toward this mysterious being.
"Calypso."
With that final answer, Kythera disappeared, and the Nephelae flew into the night sky.
"Until we meet again, my child. Stay brave."
Leo watched the sparkle of the spirit fly across the night sky faster than any mortal jet could accomplish. A mere second or two later, there was no trace left behind of her.
He was alone, again.
Leo staggered back as his head spun from everything that had transpired in his life within the last hour or two.
Was this his dream? A story like this was crazy enough for his ADHD brain to cook up.
However, as much as it would be convient for him for it to be a simple illusion, Leo could confirm that this wasn't his imagination.
Everything that had just happened, happened.
If so, he'll have to stand on his own two feet from nowon. No more playing around.
"No more playing around..." Leo muttered, aghast that he would ever be against playing. Yet another surprise to stack up in this shocking night.
And there was much more waiting for him as he stepped out of the Giant Zonos's head.
Leo faltered as he was met with a handful of automatons—No, Bronze Humans, Leo thought—bowing to him on the Giant's shoulder.
"Scree!"
Skaw was the only being that greeted him without any formality. She wagged her tail in delight at the sight of her friend and trampled through the row of Bronze Humans to stand by his side.
Leo rubbed over Skaw's head in responce, but his eyes were focused on the gaggle of Bronze Humans, led by the host of Kythera who was kneeling at the front.
"What do you guys want?" Leo asked outloud.
The host slowly stood up, still rather unstable due to all the damage, but they stepped forth and raised their arms in awe.
"Νεασιλιάς. You have listened to our screams of pain. You have responded."
"Yeah, it's kind of hard to ignore dozens of people howling in pain," Leo replied in a nonchalant tone, hoping that the loose attitude might stop whatever was going on with these people.
However, his carefree attitude was easily overlooked by the gathered Bronze Humans.
On the contrary, they looked at each other in excitment and relief, some even crying, murmuring and sharing whispers of excitment.
"Look, wait, hold on," Leo raised his hand, and the Bronze Humans went silent immediately.
It was uncomfortable in it of itself, but Leo decided to leave it as it is for now and asked, "I still don't understand what all of your deal is, uh, Bronze Humans. Who are you people? What do you want?"
The Host staggered forward. Leo tried to urge him to stay back, concered that they might combust on the spot if they moved any further, but the Host shook their head.
"We are the Chálkinos Ánthropos, the remainders of the Third Age of Men. A race born from the Ash Tree of Fotiá(Fire), brought to life by the τύραννος—Hephaestus!"
Leo frowned, trying to make sense of the sentences that was just thrown at him. It was easier said than done, not at all aided by the dyslexic, hyper active brain of his.
"So, so do you guys want revenge on...Hephaestus? Is that what you're saying?" He guessed.
Heck, that's what he wanted at the moment—at the very least, he'd prefer some explanation on why the all powerful god never bothered to show up once during his horrific life.
"No!" The Host screeched in two voices at once, making Leo wince, "We only wish to know the reason! Why he has taken the Heavenly Steps to Olympus while we were left to drown!"
"Left to drown?" Leo asked, even more confused than ever, "What are you talking about; it doesn't make sense."
But before the Host could explain further, a booming voice inturrpted them.
"The Child is right, Cartel."
Leo whipped around to the sound of the booming voice and gasped.
The Giant Zonos was staring down at his shoulder where everyone was gathered. However, unlike before, the Giant had a full facial expression clearly demonstrated by the scowl on his face.
"We do not want an explanation!" Zonos boomed, "Our goal is to take down Hephaestus with these hands! Break his Hammer and melt his Anvil!
We will not rest until the Day comes where he grovels at my feet, begging for forgiveness!"
Leo groaned as the thundering voice of the giant rattled his brain. Skaw wrapped her tail around his waist, holding him in place.
"Scree?"
"Yeah, no, I'm fine." Leo panted.
Meanwhile, the Host—Cartel stepped forth once more, "But Sire, there is an understander now!"
They pointed at Leo, who suddenlt wished he was anywhere else but here.
"He can listen to our voices! He will be able to appeal our pain and sufferings to Olympus! He is the Νεασιλιάς!"
In response, Zonos roared louder than ever. The sound was so powerful that it knocked several Bronze Humans unconscious on the spot, as well as throwing Cartel to their back.
"Hey!" Leo wobbled forward and helped Cartel up to their feet.
"A Young King?! Olympus!? Preposterous!!!
I am your King! The first man to be born! The All-Knowing leader to every single one of your kind!
I will lead my people back to glory!
Back to the time when we ruled supreme!
The rebirth of the Bronze Age! Will be accomplished by my hand!"
Zonos swung his hand and slammed his shoulder. The residents were all shaken off, several of them falling without any way to reach the ground safely.
The Mad Giant roared with laughter as he dusted off his shoulder. He turned around, wondering which would be the quickest way to Mt. Etna, but no longer than a few steps after, something whizzed in front of his nose.
"Hey! Big guy!"
"Hmm?" Zonos raised his eyebrow at the small human blocking his path, on the back of a flying bronze dragon.
"I heard your voice first than anyone else's!" Leo shouted at the top of his voice, "I wanted to help you—which lead me to helping everyone else!"
Beneath Zonos's feet, the Bronze Humans who could fly were settling their kin safely to the ground, led by Leo to do so.
Leo's hands balled into fists and burst into flames as he glared at the skyscrapping giant before him.
"You're just a big bully!" He shouted, "If you're a King or whatever—act like one!"
Zonos roared with laughter again. This time, although it being louder than his voice, Leo held his ground against the deafening volume.
"Act like a King?" Zonos asked back, "You insolent child, The Bronze Humans do not have a Heart! Our ways of life is to fight and conquer!
As their supreme ruler, I demand war! Those who don't comply aren't my concern no longer!"
"You said you hated Hephaestus because he was heartless to you guys, but you're saying your heartless too? What kind of bullcrap is that?!" Leo retorted.
It must have stabbed through the Giant's nerves, because Zonos's bronze face quickly contorted into a furious rage.
"SILNCE, YOU IMPUDENT MUTT!!!!"
The Gaint swung his palm through the air. The amount of air pushed forward by the movement was more than enough to wipe a town clean.
Skaw flew up with a defiant screech, Leo hanging onto one of her back spikes for dear life and narrowly avoided the bronze palm of death.
"Do not lecture me about Heart and Emotions!" Zonos roared.
He reached for the bronze dragon, but Skaw was too small and nibble for him to properly grab. She kept weaving through his fingers and circle around his arm, blowing fire at his wrist alongside with Leo.
"What do you know about my pain! About our suffering! The injustice we've received!
Do you DARE think, just because you can hear our voices, you could tend to our wounds!
NEVER!!!"
Zonos took a deep breath, realing his head back. Skaw screeched in panic and struggled against the wind as the air of the whole area was sucked into the Giant.
"How is he doing that?!" Leo shouted over the wind, gawking at the sight as the metal chest of the giant expanded like a regular human, "I thought his body was made of metal!"
When his chest was full, Zonos smirked and expelled the air he drvoured all at once. The blast of air crashed into the Junkyard and reared up in a backlash, creating a tornado in the middle of the junkyard.
Leo screamed as he was tossed around like a volleyball a hundred feet in the air, his fire snuffed out, while stuffs like broken pianos and golden statue of Midas flew around him as if they weighted nothing more than a sheet of paper.
"Ah-ha!"
The last thing Leo heard was a screech from his favorite dragon before a pair of giant hands ripped through the torando to squash him flat from either side.
'Uh oh—'
SLAM!!!
When Leo opened his eyes again, he felt warm liquid trickling down his face and neck. It was oddly comforting and quickly awoke his senses and he realized—it was oil.
"Skaw!" He cried in horror.
The bronze dragon was baddly battered, worse than any junk he had seen in the Junkyard.
One of her eyes were smashed to bits, her legs were all twisted in a wrong direction while two of them were imbedded in her own stomach, and her wings looked like a broken harmonica as they weakly creaked.
The dragon creaked as Leo hurriedly knelt next to his friend.
"Hang on, man," Leo muttered, trying to blink the tears out of his eyes. The world can't take another person from him today, "Just hang on."
His hand worked on turbo. Leo wasn't even aware what he was doing for the most of the time, just the one thought of keeping Skaw alive rooted within his brain.
At least, until a huge voice inturrpted his process.
"The foolish junk," Zonos scowled, looking down at his palm where the boy and his dragon was on.
"I thought that was one of ours, but it is a mere copy made of poor crastmanship—throwing itself in at the last second...that's a fatal error." He muttered, although his muttering voice still carried out loud and clear to everyone in the vicinity.
"..."
Leo finished treating Skaw's mangled body. He couldn't do much, but he could instinctivly tell that she will live as long as she could rest.
The young son of Hephaestus looked down at his hands, drenched with oil and shaking with uncontrollable rage.
Skaw creaked her barely functioning jaw, her one eye staring forward, but Leo was too angry to hear her words.
"You..." It took all of his sanity not to burst into flames on the spot as he turned to the Giant, "You take that back."
Zonos raised his eyebrow, wondering if this boy had gone insane.
The idea that someone as small and weak as this could demand anything from him was so absurd, instead of closing his fist and crushing both of them, he hunch over to loom over Leo with his eye.
"Pardon?"
"Skaw..." Leo grit his teeth. He was so angry, it was hard to keep up conversation, but he had to say this at least.
"Skaw protected me from your hands not because of an error."
"Oh? Then why did that broken Junk did that, may I ask?"
"Because..." Leo clenched his fists, "Because she had a heart, unlike YOU!!!"
With a yell, Leo shot a column of fire, more powerful than he had ever dared to before straight into the Giant's right eye.
The Giant gasped, his eyes widening at the sudden bright light right before one of them was hit by it.
"AAAARRRRGGGG!!!!!"
Zonos shook the earth with his roar as he staggered back, trampling a few mountains and hills as he flailed around, clutching his eye in excruciating pain.
Leo, now tapped out of battery was hanging on the edge of the hand with dear life on one hand, his other hand gripping Skaw, but the weight was too much for him to hold on more than a few seconds.
"Gah—" Leo gasped as his shoulder gave way with a small crack!
And at the same time, the hand gripping onto the giant bronze palm slipped.
Leo groaned as he free fell toward the earth. Again, he couldn't have guessed this insane day would end with him dying.
With only one arm operative, Leo tugged himself to the head of Skaw and hugged it, hoping that he might at least soften the impact of the fall at least a little bit.
Something sparkling dropped from his pocket as he fell. The small horse toy he had received from David. At least he might meet this mysterious girl at the afterlife.
He wondered how Kythera would react if she found out he died right after she left. Perhaps he wasn't as grown as she thought he was...
'I'm...sorry...'
Leo closed his eyes as everything went dark.
And then—
Poof!
"Ugh...huh? Gah!"
Leo went through confusion, relief and pain in less than a second, which wasn't a very mentally healthy course to go through.
He clutched his broken shoulder and whimpered in pain, not to mention every other part in his body that was tapped out.
However, as soon as his senses returned, he blinked out the tears and tried to stand up. But his knees shuddered when there was weight put on them and Leo toppled backwards not long after.
Only, instead of falling back on hard ground or piles of cold junk for more pain, something warm and soft coiled around his back.
He looked up and saw a sparkling purple eye glancing down at him, over a row of sharp teeth between black furs.
"...Hecuba...?" Leo asked softly. Although the appearance was similar, the wolf looked so much alive compared to prior that Leo couldn't help but question himself.
Hecuba, on the other hand, chuckled softly and nodded.
"Yes, I am the wolf you know. You have also become unrecognizable in a short time, Son of Hephaestus."
"What? Did I? Ow..." Leo winced as soon as he tried to stand and flopped back onto Hecuba's tail.
Then, he remembered the primary problem at hand.
"The Giant! Zonos crashed Skaw! He—"
"Do not worry about the dragon, Νεασιλιάς."
Leo turned his head with difficulty and found Cartel and the other Bronze Humans gathered around Skaw, who was getting patched up and well-fed with scrap metals.
"The dragon is an odd case," They remarked, "Although its body is completely mechanical like us, it is truely alive like a roaming animal."
"You're all alive," Leo said, before remembering Zonos. "Where is—"
His question was answered beforehand as a colossal figure picked itself up from the ground, lightning sparking at the hem of his feet.
Zonos kicked away the electric wires he had tripped over in his rampage and stood up, shaking his head.
"Grrrrr...impudent little...where are those pests?"
Before Leo could even suggest they hide or run, the One-eyed giant spotted the small gathering a few steps away(in his spectrum) and snarled.
The Giant made two steps closer before stopping and hunched over, his hand loosly over his one eye in case it gets attacked again.
There was another human standing idly between the two factions.
"Who dares to interrupt my path?!" Zonos roared.
"Me?" The boy pointed at himself with a grin, and hefted the new black sword over his shoulder.
"My name is David.
I'm a Son fo Ares and my dream is to become a Hero like no other.
And you—Tin-Can Man—you'd better give back my friends now, or else."
Zonos stared at yet another human who dared to bother him and came to a realization.
"You're a demigod." He said, "You, and that audacious boy, you're both demigods."
"Well, that depends..." David muttered. He glanced over his shoulders to Hecuba, who shrugged her front legs.
"W-wait! He can't—owww!"
Leo groaned as he tried to stand up for a third time and failed yet again.
"You must stay put, Νεασιλιάς," Cartel hurridly added, "Your body is badly broken and we don't have any medical supplies for races after us in this area."
"For the love of gods, my name is Leo Valdez! If you, or anyone else calls me in that weird Ancient Greek ever again, I swear I'm going to set fire on myself!" Leo snarled, only to realized that setting fire on himself was an empty threat to begin with.
"Besides, you don't understand! David can't fight against that giant alone! I put everything I had and more into his eyes and he is up again! Hecuba—"
He turned to the black wolf in desperation. If they had both returned from a fall to the death, surely she would come to David's aid.
However, Hecuba only watched the situation with a smirk.
"Don't worry...Leo, was it? This is a test for our young master."
"Young master?" Leo asked, "Who, David?"
Hecuba nodded, then tilted her head, "Well, maybe not yet, but he has certainly taken a step toward that direction."
At that moment, Zonos exploded with rage once again.
"HEROES!!!" He bellowed, "The ungreatful, deceitful beings who took our place after our downfall!"
"It's your last chance," David said calmly, tapping the black sword against his shoulder, "Let my friends go. Or you're getting scrapped."
"DIE!!!!"
Zonos raised his foot and crushed where David was standing. The Giant grinned triumphantly, but soon realized that something was wrong.
Whenever he stomped something, things were supposed to either get crushed or get blasted away. That was the most basic rules upon this earth called Physics.
However, this time, not a single breeze was occurred by his massive stomp. And, come to think of it, his foot didn't seemed to have touched the ground by the feels.
Wait, where was his foot again?
"HGH—GAAAAHHH!!!!"
Zonos howled as the late realization hit him, staggering back on one foot before falling on his back with a gigantic THUD.
David whistled as he swung the black sword around, "Hecuba really wasn't kidding when she sold me this sword, was she?"
"HRGH, GRGH!"
Zonos struggled and grunted as the single human casually hopped onto his leg and strolled up his body.
With a roar, he tried to slam him with his left hand. Again, the entire arm went missing before he could land a hit.
"If you had some honor left in you, I might've been nicer," David hopped down to the giant's chest and pointed the black blade at Zonos's chin.
"Alright, this is the real last warning; I'm not in a good mood.
Let my friends go."
Zonos glanced at his missing limbs and realized they were dissolving into nothingness, starting from the cut surface.
As terrifying of a sight as it was, it also gave the giant an idea.
"H, hah! I get your schemes now. You're worried that your peers would get dissolved too, eh?
Well, they are going down with me! Unless you retreat and stop this magic!"
David let out a groan.
"Really? You're pulling a hostage situation right after I mocked you for having no honor? Have some dignity, man."
"Silence! Do as I say, or I'll lock your friends inside my body!"
"Hmm," David tapped a finger to his chin as if he was pondering over the option, before...
"Yeah, no."
David swung the black blade across Zonos's chest.
The Giant gasped as his entire upper torso was cut in half, more than three quearters of his body severed in a single strike.
"Gah, hgah...!" The Giant gasped, clinging onto his last few breathes as his chest dissolved away.
"S, such ruthlessness..." He gasped, looking up at David, "A, a Son of Ares...n, not too dif-ferent from Heph, Hephaestus. Y, you heroes a, a, are all...heartless...just like the Olympians..."
"What are you blabbering about?" David scowled, slamming his foot into the giant's lower lip.
Zonos's face contorted with pain, but he still had a crooked grin as he gloated.
"Y, you've sealed your friend's Fate with me, S-son of Ares. Th-they are now locked in my body...they'll be reduced to atoms as well!"
David snorted, "Yeah, right. As if Silena and Beckendorf are going to get easily dispatched like you. The difference in strength is immeasurable, you dolt. Watch."
He pointed at the side of Zonos's head. The giant peered to his side, but nothing seemed to happen.
"Y, you fool of a Hero—"
Then, the huge metal door swung open and Silena and Beckendorf came rolling out. They both look shook more than ever, but they were also holding each other's hand more tightly than ever.
Silena was the one who got up first and with her aid, Beckendorf managed to stand up, pulling some wires out of his hair.
"Hey, you made it!" David greeted them with a wide grin, while Zonos gaped in shock and despair.
"W-what!? How—?!"
Clang!
Before he could properly process the situation, David cleaved the giant's head in half.
Now his eyes without any light behind them, the remaining corpse of the giant Zonos dissolved into dust, like any regular monster did after their death.
The trio of the quest stood with each other for a moment as Leo and Skaw, alongside the rest of the company came towards them.
"This was...certainly a journy," Beckendorf muttered, "I don't get why Hephaestus wanted me here..."
"Maybe he wanted you to find his son?" Silena suggested, to which Beckendorf replied with a frown, "I have a brother here?"
"Or maybe he wanted you to get rid of Zonos. Preferably with his knowledge and teachings." David muttered.
Beckendorf tensed, then turned to Son of Ares. How did he figure out what happened inside of Zonos's head?
"David, Silena told me you jumped to your death with a magical black wolf."
"I did."
"But you didn't die—which means the wolf did something to save both of you, and it worked. What happened?"
Beckendorf eyed the empty hand of David. He swore he saw the black blade in his hand a second ago, but now it was gone without leaving any trace behind.
David winced and rubbed his left wrist as he said, "Nothing much. Hecuba has the power to move through shadows, only she is bad at controlling it so we ended up somewhere far away.
Sorry it took so long to come back."
"Is your hand ok?" Silena asked and reached out, but David quickly stepped back.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired after everything. You know I'm a Softpaw fighter, right? Remember that when you make my new weapon."
David held out his fist for a fistbump with a grin.
Beckendorf looked down at the right fist. Although every problem was sorted out, he was more worried than before the quest started.
He wasn't the best at allegories, but to set an example, the David a day before was like a clear peral without any smuge mixed in, which made him stand out between his cabinmates.
Now, something had changed. It wasn't much yet, but Beckendorf, as a master blacksmith could easoly pick out tinest oddities in something, and David was no exception.
He became keener, perhaps more skilled, and certainly, tiny bit more ruthless.
The most concerning part was that he couldn't exactly lay a finger on what could be the reason for this miniscule change.
...But then again, it might be his mistake. They were all teenagers afterall; perhaps David was coming of age from the rather childish nature he had beforehand.
Either way, there was no doubt that the Son of Hephaestus owed his life to him, and Beckendorf didn't want to suspect his life's savior on a whiff.
"Don't worry, I'll make you my best work. The first craftmanship of the New Beckendorf is yours!"
Beckendorf answered with a returning fist bump.
After that Silena smiled and thanked David for everything as well.
Now that the spy locket was lost in the vast field, she felt much less burdened. Not to mention that this experience brought her closer to Charlie more than ever.
The couple then huddled over to Leo, one to check if he's alright and the other to meet the younger half-sibling of his for the first time.
"..."
David kept his distance from the crowd and looked down at his left hand.
The sigil of Cadmus was corroded black, digging into the flesh of his palms. David carefully touched the sigil, only to feel a shock of pain and wince.
However, David grit his teeth and clenched his fist, enduring the seering pain in his hand until it subsided.
He looked up at the stary sky to the direction of the mountains, wondering if Cadmus was seeing the same sky he was.
'I'm sorry, Cadmus.
I know this sigil isn't meant for my gains...
...But, I have to find my sister.
You understand that too, right?'
He fished out a single leather glove from the rubbled. It was old and dusty, but it seemed to fit into his left hand nicely.
"David! Come on! They said we need to gather some parts to fix Skaw!" Leo shouted from several feet away.
"Yeah, I'm comming!"
David stuffed his hand into the glove and ran off to the rest of the gang.
No knowing that deep within the mountains, his mentor had heard his silent prayers.
Cadmus sighed, polishing his trusted spear as he kept his eyes on the vast entrance below.
'Of course, I understand.
That's why I never deserved the sigil, boy...
...But one day, your time will come.
I hope you make the right choice then.'
A/N:
I AM FINALLY DONE WITH THIS STORY ARC
WHOOOOOOO!!!!!
Right out of the gate, tons of sorry and millions of thank you for everyone whk hadn't given up during the excruciatingly painful upload schedule.
Not one of my proudest moments as an "Author". I'm sure glad that I don't do this for a living, because then I'd be dead on the streets three times over.
I'm sure some of you noticed, but there had been lots of direction changes and new plot points added during the writing process during this arc specifically(which is why it took so long)
I had everything planned, but then it didn't work out, so I struggled to come up with something new, then that made something else impossible and yadda yadda yadda...you know the drill.(There is an entire scene with Silena and Beckendorf, related with Zonos's background that I had to remove, and it still upsets me.)
At least I am very proud with this chapter overall.
And the next small story I'm going to write is definetly one chapter material and rather light, theme wise, so I think it will take a day or two.
However, I also have a bad news.
I'll be unable to write starting from 9/18 to at least a month, maybe even longer.
It's because I have to go to the army.
For those wondering why, my home country(South Korea) serving the military is mandatory for every men who is fit enough.
I've been working to join the Airforce, because it gives me more free rein after some time, but still, nothing is guaranteed since its military.
And I enter the boot camp at 9/18, where needless to say, phones and interent are not allowed.
So, sorry for bring this news after literal months of seldom update schedules.
I'll try to make up as well as I could.
Alright, serious mode off.
I hope you all had a fun time reading, and I'll see you all next chapter!
Ta ta~