HELP

He didn't know whether he should be glad that Gaea scampered off or worried that Gaea scampered off. You never knew with her.

He sighed and picked up the golden-brown duster. It felt nice to touch and was one of the best natural armours in Greek Mythology. It was useless to him though. He had Perastos but he slipped the duster on anyway and it shrunk to fit his size. Perastos gave a mental snort of annoyance but he ignored it.

He looked at the guard that was still snoring away to glory.

'I could use always use a failsafe', he thought.

***

Once he knocked out the guard while invisible, he walked down the street to the Museum of Natural history. The giant doors were locked but one kick was enough to send them flying. He walked in, finding himself in a large chamber full of mastodons and dinosaur skeletons. He scanned every one of them hoping to find what he was looking for but it was in vain. He shook his head and walked further into the chamber, finding himself in front of a set of closed doors. He pushed them open revealing a huge room with a balcony ringing the second level.

'There you are!', He thought.

At the centre of the room was a gigantic skeleton - more than twice his height. Even millions of years of erosion couldn't water down the pure majesty that the creature exuded. It was the Tyrannosaurus Rex - The Tyrant Lizard.

"But you're more than that aren't you?", he muttered, staring at the long teeth in the skeletons Maw.

They weren't any ordinary teeth. They were the teeth of a dragon and not just any dragon! They were the teeth of the Sybaris herself! When covered in dirt and watered with blood they would give rise to Spartoi. Mostly unkillable Skeleton Warriors that would never stop hounding their targets. He'd specifically come for them as he had to slay Ladon - something even his father had failed at. Using a dragon to slay another one. Poetic.

"Never thought you'd figure it out. Your title wasn't given on a whim I see...", a voice sounded behind him.

He whirled around instinctively summoning and nocking his bow. He was invisible. He couldn't be seen unless it was a frighteningly powerful being.

"Whoa there...Do you always greet people with such hostility? I'm just a poor janitor", said a man wearing a grey uniform, holding a wet mop next to a bucket.

"Nothing can go wrong with constant vigilance.", Athos answered finding the man vaguely familiar. His face was different, but his lopsided shoulders and metal brace gave him away.

"Touché, demigod", Hephaestus shrugged, which looked odd owing to his deformed shoulders. " A little bird told me what you are. I would've been more surprised if I hadn't seen your weapon. I wanted to contact you via the spider but I couldn't hold back my curiosity. Now give it to me. I want to take a look."

Athos just stared back at him. There was no way he was giving Leviathan to a God - even for a checkup.

Hephaestus harrumphed in indignation before lightly sighing, "Fine, fine. I won't damage or compromise it in any way. I shall return it to you within a minute. I swear it on the River Styx."

Thunder boomed.

Athos relented, summoning and tossing Leviathan over to the God who caught it with far more enthusiasm than he'd imagined.

"Exquisite craftsmanship...Those seal bastards sure know what they're doing", he muttered, running his thick, callused fingers along the blade. "Handle made from Stygian-Adamantine alloy! Tha....Thats impossible! How did they do it?! Fucking black magic, I tell you. Blade made from pure Stygian Iron and what's this?" He stopped at the glowing blue gem, tracing the ethereal lines on the handle.

"Adamantine?", Athos asked. The indestructible metal only wielded by the Gods? Was that why Leviathan's handle was always a lighter shade than its blade?

"Adamantine", Hephaestus confirmed. "Goes well with celestial bronze, imperial gold and so...but Stygian Iron? Not so much. Consider it an antithesis of sorts. While Stygian Iron comes from the deepest, darkest parts of the underworld, Adamantine...", He looked up warily. "This isn't the best place to tell you that."

Athos raised an eyebrow, "Okay....but don't tell me you're here just to gush over my axe?"

Hephaestus snorted, threw Leviathan back at Athos and folded his muscular arms. "I wish. You're very very important kid. Far more than you realise. If you complete this quest you could shake up the world. Literally. Demeter sent me to help you."

"Uh-huh. Not for free, I suppose?"

"For free."

"You're kidding right?", Athos frowned. Every single time a God helped him, it was because they got something in return. Demeter even wanted a favor because he took the cornucopia that was another God's horn. It was a bullshit reason.

"Nope. I hope you remember our....generosity", he emphasised the word generosity as though it hurt his mouth saying it.

"Our? Why're you both working together?", Athos frowned.

"You'll find out if you survive", Hephaestus said and snapped his fingers. The teeth on the Tyrannosaurus Rex detached and landed at Athos' feet. Every single one of them was about twelve inches long.

"Can I choose the help I get?", Athos asked tentatively, transferring the teeth into his watch, not knowing Hephaestus had snuck in something else among the teeth.

"No. You'll find them once you go outside", Hephaestus shook his head and flicked his hand, forming a firey portal. "Mount Othrys is a dangerous place. The mist is powerful there. Good luck. You'll need it."

The God walked into the portal that immediately collapsed in on itself, leaving Athos alone in the giant room. He sighed and shook his head. The day he understood gods would be the day he would become one himself.

He took out an empty flask and a celestial bronze-tipped arrow. He then slashed his wrist and let the blood trickle into the bottle. Two minutes later, the wound ceased bleeding but the flask had barely begun filling. This would take a while.

***

He didn't know how long it took to fill the flask, but when he walked out of the building, Luke was awake and outside the museum.

"Hello there!", Athos said, finding Luke staring at the large crater.

"Shit!", Luke jumped out of his skin, drawing his blade, but he calmed down when he saw Athos. "Oh, it's you...nice duster."

"Thanks"

"What happened? The last thing I remember is planting my face in the airbag....."

"It's a long story. I'll tell you while we fly", Athos said, staring at the full moon that was now blotted out by two large shapes.

"What? Fly? What are yo-

*BOOM*

Two large 9-foot tall bronze statues with large bladed wings slammed onto the concrete, forming two more large craters.

"Sup Kid! We meet ag-"

"You're the 'help' Hephaestus promised?", Athos interrupted Chump.

"Hey! Thats ru-Ow!"

Chumps brother smacked him on the head. "They're in a hurry Chump. We'd better be off."

"You've been busy, huh?", Luke mumbled, staring at the giant angels arguing like kids.

"Yup!"

***

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