Created by Chaos

by Melody Rose

  If I had any doubts before, which I didn’t because we clearly looked like we shared DNA, Hephaestus bent down towards the pyramid of sticks and blew on it like a child blowing out their candles on a birthday cake. Immediately, a spray of small sparks flew from his mouth and landed on the wood. It burst into flames immediately. Calypso clapped her hands together like a proud mother.

  So he had magical fire powers, unnaturally red hair, and bright blue eyes. Did I need any more evidence?

  When I had always pictured my father for some reason, the man never had a face. I couldn’t form the necessary features to make him real in my mind’s eye. Eventually, when I was a teenager, I stopped thinking about him altogether. It wasn’t until I got recruited to the Academy and told that he was a literal god, that that faceless image popped back into my head.

  I didn’t know how to handle this actual man… or immortal, rather. He gnawed on the pig’s leg without a care in the world, pinkish juice running down into his beard. Calypso reached over and patted him on the head like a dog.

  The pit in my stomach just wouldn’t go away. I couldn’t identify it. Was it disappointment? Resentment? Anger? No, none of those seemed right because I knew what all of those feelings felt like in my body. This was a hole, swallowing my intestines. As though I was on the verge of a cliff, debating whether or not to jump off without a safety harness. It was a sixth sense that something somewhere was about to change.

  Hephaestus took a break from his pig’s leg and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He leaned forward, resting his elbow on his knee, and looked at me over the top of the fire.

  “So your name’s Cheyenne?” he asked, his eyelids blinking slowly as if he was drunk and seeing two of me.

  “Yeah, Cheyenne Paulos,” I said slowly. “Uh, Cassie’s daughter.”

  “Oh, Cassie,” Hephaestus said as he leaned back on his stump. He slapped his thigh and licked his lips. “Gods, I liked her. She was beautiful and good in bed too. Her ass was the perfect size for me, you know.” The god held up his hands to demonstrate cupping my mom’s ass, which was an image I never, ever needed.

  I blinked rapidly and shook my head as if I could clear the image from my memory. Benji choked on his crackers, and Darren had to slap him on the back a couple of times.

  “Did you know she turned out to be a descendant of the Oracle of Delphi?” Hephaestus said as he stuck his neck out towards me, his eyes bugging out of his head too. He raised a single finger and ticked it back and forth. “If I had known that, I wouldn’t have slept with her in the first place. That was a big no-no with Apollo.”

  “I can imagine,” I grumbled.

  The more I talked with the god of blacksmiths, the more my heart sank. It had been unrealistic to think that this would be some grand father-daughter reunion. I knew it was childish to think that he would accept me with open arms. But I had hoped that he wouldn’t be a jerk at least. Part of me scolded myself. I should have known better. All the gods I had met were selfish in one way or another. Even Phaethusa had her arrogant moments. Immortal beings didn’t need to care about us mortals. It didn’t seem to be in their make up.

  “Yeah, I found that little factoid out when we were in bed one night, and we’d just finished the longest round of sex I’d had in a while,” he said as he made a sweeping gesture with his hand.

  My mouth went dry, and I tried not to faint right then and there.

  “And she managed to keep up the whole time. Not bad for a mortal. You know what I mean, Callie, huh?” he said as he elbowed the goddess. Calypso giggled knowingly, with a coy grin sliding onto her face.

  “I’ve never met a mortal that can keep up with my sex drive,” Calypso said in a low and seductive voice, with his eyes never left Hephaestus’s.

  “Not even Odysseus?” Benji asked unhelpfully.

  I shot a sideways glance at my friend who shrank back in his seat, ashamed of his question.

  Thankfully, Calypso didn’t respond to Benji’s question, either deeming it too stupid or too insignificant for her to answer. She kept making googly eyes at Hephaestus, and I thought they were going to jump each other’s bones right then and there, especially after they got close enough to touch noses. He growled and pretended to nip at her, to which she giggled again and booped the tip of his nose.

  I coughed, loudly and obnoxiously. “You were talking about my mom, Cassie.”

  Hephaestus seemed to regain consciousness and didn’t look too happy about it. “Yeah, right, uh, she was good in the sack is what I’m saying. But I couldn’t sleep with her again after she made that prophecy.”

  “Wait, what prophecy?” I said, unconsciously leaning forward to hear more.

  “You know,” Hephaestus said as he brushed off my question with a large hand wave. “The one about the Ultimate Weapon. The reason that you’re here.”

  “My mom gave that prophecy?” I balked. My heart skipped a beat and not in a happy way. I thought I was going to fall over right there. Violet must have sensed it too because she put a steadying hand on my leg, bringing me back to reality.

  “Sure did,” Hephaestus said as he picked up the other back leg of the pig. He took a huge bite out of it, the sound like a broken zipper as he yanked flesh off the bone with his teeth. “So, I left her and went to tell Apollo because, you know, he’s the prophecy guy.”

  “Right,” I prompted, circling my hands in the air, indicating that he should continue. “What did Apollo say?”

  “Well, he told me that I needed to play my part, that it was the will of the Fates!” Hephaestus said the last words in a mocking tone, implying that Apollo had a very effeminate way of speaking. Benji’s lips curled at the blatant stereotype, and this time it was Darren giving our friend a reassuring pat on the leg to calm him down.

  “So I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll give this life-controlling elemental blade a go.’ How hard can it be?” Hephaestus gave an exaggerated shrug. A bit of the pig meat flew off the bone and landing the dirt. The god paused his story a minute to reach down and pick up the piece, plopping it into his mouth.

  Violet’s face went white at the disgusting sight. As the seconds ticked down, I could tell that I wasn’t the only one displeased with my father and his behavior.

  “So, I went in search of some materials and tried a couple of different designs, but then!” Hephaestus lifted his arms in the air, not unlike a game show contestant winning the final prize. All four of us soldiers jerked back in surprise in his sudden change to a more exuberant tone. “I realized that it wasn’t my job to make the blade at all.”

  “That’s right, it’s not,” I assured him. “You have to bless it with your powers to that it can become a life-controlling elemental blade.”

  “Wrong!” Hephaestus said as he pointed an enthusiastic finger at me. He cackled out a laugh which Calypso joined in even though it was clear that she had no idea what they were laughing about. Hephaestus stopped abruptly, and Calypso faded her own laughter. There was an awkward silence before the god continued his tale.

  “You see, it doesn’t mention a god except for ‘a child of the betrayed,’ so I said to myself, ‘Hephaestus, I got a baby on the way,’” Hephaestus said as he feigned talking to an invisible person next to him. “I could make that child the child in the prophecy so that I don’t have to make anything. They do.”

  “That doesn’t make any--” I started to protest, but the god was on a roll, and his booming voice barrelled over me.

  “I’ve got to betray the prophecy so that my child can be the child of the betrayed,” Hephaestus went on, the pride in himself coming through with every word. “So I abandoned all searches for materials, swore to myself that I wouldn’t get involved with elemental blade making, and hid out. That way, when you grew up, you could properly be the child betrayed by their father. Pretty clever, huh? So you’re welcome.”

  The god leaned back triumphantly and put his hands behind his head, resting them in his palms until he realized that he still had
the pig leg in his hand. He wiped some stray grease off the back of his head. No one said anything, and we watched him do all of this, too stunned to speak.

  It was ultimately Hephaestus who broke the silence. “Oh, and another thing! I wanted to give you this.”

  Against my better judgment, something swelled in my chest. Maybe this token from my father would make the whole thing worth it, considering I had a sinking suspicion that all of this had been a colossal waste of time so far. Hephaestus leaned to one side and pulled something out of his pocket. He grunted, sniffed, and then held it out to me from across the fire.

  “Here you go.”

  I took the item which was no bigger than my pinky finger. It was a small statue of Hephaestus, like one of those figurines that children would play with. It was mounted on a circular base so it could stand up. Made completely out of metal, the statue didn’t have a speck of color on it.

  “Just a little something for your forge,” Hephaestus said, feeling a little too proud of himself, as if he’d just handed me a check for a million dollars rather than a child’s toy.

  “What is it?” Benji whispered to Violet.

  My Oracle powers answered as I slipped it in my pocket, trying not to let my disappointment show. “It’s an Algama. They were small statues followers of Hephaestus would make to bring them luck in the forge. It’s said that when blessed by Hephaestus, it helps your hammer strike true so that you don’t make a mistake.”

  “Exacto, kiddo!” Hephaestus said lamely. “Now, I still think my plan of making you the child of the betrayed is the true gift, but that’s just something a little extra.

  “Yeah, about that,” Benji said, sucking his teeth. “Is it just me, or did that not make a lick of sense?”

  “It makes perfect sense!” Hephaestus exclaimed. “At least to me it does.” Then he took another bite, looking rather satisfied with himself.

  “So, you decided to supposedly help me by actively choosing not to help me?” I clarified, trying to find some line of logic in his thinking, but it felt like trying to find a flashlight in the dark.

  “Pretty much,” the god of blacksmithing said with a shrug and a full mouth.

  “That is the most…” I couldn’t finish my sentence, I was so baffled.

  “Brilliant thing you’ve ever--” Hephaestus tried to fill in the blank, but it was my turn to barrel over him.

  “Boneheaded thing I’ve ever heard!” I found myself shouting as I rose to my feet. My remaining food fell to the ground, but I didn’t care. Violet tried to tug at my sleeve, getting me to sit back down, but I wasn’t having any of it. I jerked out of her grip and set my sights on Hephaestus.

  “Even if what you did make any sense, you’re telling me that you would rather find the most remote island in Greek mythology, and hide out than help your own child save thousands, potentially millions of lives?” I shouted at him. I didn’t care who or what heard me in the forest. Years of abandonment issues and resentment exploded from me in a flurry of anger and frustration. “You abandoned my mother, abandoned me, abandoned your jobs as a god, and ran away. And you did it all on purpose? Is that what you’re telling me?”

  “I don’t see what the problem is,” Hephaestus said in a challenging tone as he licked his lips.

  “The problem is that those are the actions of a coward,” I spat at him. “Yeah, that’s it. I’ve been looking for the word this whole time to try to describe what a rude, inconsiderate, egotistical idiot you are, but I think I can sum all of that up in one word. You are a coward.”

  That word seemed to hit home. The god rose to his feet, and I didn’t bother backing away. There was a fire between the two of us, and I clearly had gotten my mother’s height, because I still looked down at him by an inch. I knew the gods could change their appearance, but I was grateful that Hephaestus was too lazy to do so. I liked being able to look down on him, a man that I had admired from afar, one that I thought had been captured or injured, something that would prevent him from being present in my life for the last twenty-two years.

  Nope, it turned out that he was just a dick.

  “How dare you challenge me, child? Your own father?” He glared at me with a blue fire burning in his irises. “I made you what you are.”

  “You did nothing to make me,” I threw back at him, refusing to step down. “You may have shagged my mother, given me your hair and eyes, but you did nothing to make me into the woman, the warrior, or the person I am today.”

  “What about your powers, huh?” Hephaestus asked, his voice slipping into the tone of a petulant child, trying to hold on to an argument that they were losing. “I gave you those too. Where would you be without those?”

  “I don’t know!” I screamed at him, fully losing my temper. “Maybe at home with my mom, living a normal life. Not trying to save the world while my deadbeat dad jerks off on a beach for twenty years while the world burns around him.”

  “You see, the thing is, Cheyenne…” Hephaestus began as he stepped directly into the fire between us, closing the gap. It didn’t burn him or affect him in any way, except to make him all the more intimidating as the flames gathered around him. “I don’t care if the world burns. I’m a god. I’ll survive, along with all of the other immortals. The world’s going to burn like it has before.” He scoffed, and the fire under his feet flickered in response. “And it will burn again. So save it, don’t save it. It doesn’t matter to me.”

  “It matters to me!” I shouted as I pounded against my chest. Tears unexpectedly sprung to my eyes, and I let them run freely. “This is my world. My time. My home. And you won’t even help your own daughter save it.”

  “You don’t need my help because I’ve already given you everything that you need,” Hephaestus said as he spread his hands out as though he just dropped the mic.

  I opened my mouth to reply but found that I couldn’t say anything. I didn’t have anything else to say to him. The hole that had been in my gut since meeting the god of blacksmiths widened and threatened to swallow me. I realized at that moment that I had to get out of there. I didn’t want to waste any more time with this man, father or no.

  So I turned on my heel and ran into the jungle, back towards the beach, with my friends calling out my name behind me.

  28

  I ran until I could feel sand beneath my feet. I pushed my exhausted body, which had been through an ordeal that day from nearly drowning, killing the Scylla, and getting trapped by vines. Not to mention the emotional toll of meeting my father for the first time and finding out that he was a giant douche.

  I let the sand catch me as I fell onto all fours, the sadness overwhelming me. I cried, my tears dripping onto the sand, making little craters. A full moon shone overhead, illuminating the waves as they sloshed back and forth. If I gazed out, I could see the frozen tundra just beyond Calypso’s border and the Argo, still standing, still stuck.

  The whole situation just seemed so ridiculous and hopeless. I couldn’t believe I let my anger take hold of me like that. Part of me knew it was so that I didn’t have to address the sadness and disappointment over having an asshole for a father.

  Even though I prepared myself for the worst, I still hoped. My inner child still wished for a full family and a father that was always there for me. That would jump at the chance to help me, but instead, I got stuck with a shitty one who claimed to help me by abandoning me. Yeah, thanks, Dad. That’s gotten me really far.

  Suddenly, I heard the continuous calls of my friends as they shouted my name. They emerged from the trees and found me on the sand. Immediately, each one of them surrounded me, giving me love and comfort on all sides.

  “Holy shit, Shy,” Benji said as he sat on one side of me, letting me lean my head on his shoulder. “What a mess.”

  “You think?” I said with a sniffle.

  Violet wrapped her arms around me, sitting on her knees so she could be the same height as me. “Forget him, Shy. He’s a terrible god. Just awful.”

/>   “A complete shitbag if you ask me,” Darren said with a confident nod. He sat in front of me, blocking my view of the ocean, with only our toes touching. It was the most physical affection Darren was ever going to show, but I was grateful for it all the same.

  “That’s fine, really it is,” I whimpered, trying to be brave in my words.

  “No, it’s not,” Benji assured me. “You’re allowed to be pissed and disappointed that you have a horrible godly parent. It sucks to say, but most of them are that way.”

  “But at least now, you know,” Darren said, trying to comfort me. “Most of us demigods will never even meet our godly parent, so we just keep living in the unknown.”

  “Or blissful ignorance, more like,” I countered with a grimace.

  “Cheyenne, you can’t think like that,” Violet said as she ran a hand through my hair, pushing it out of my face. “Now you know what he's like. And he’s an asshat. So you can let that curiosity, that hope, that… whatever go. Just--” Violet whistled and held out a hand, letting it fly out towards the ocean.

  “As nice as that sounds, guys, I can’t just do that,” I reminded them, my voice finally returning to normal after all of the crying. “We can’t just do that. We need him, remember? How else are we supposed to make the Ultimate Weapon powerful enough to defeat a god? We need the help of another god.”

  “Maybe there are other gods we can ask?” Violet suggested gently. “I mean, Hades kind of owes you a boon, doesn’t he?”

  “Not really,” I said, rubbing the excess sand off my palms. “We’re technically even. He just said that he wouldn’t forget my honesty is all.”

  “And Eros? What about him?” Benji asked. “Especially after the whole saving his bacon by making a new bow and arrow.”

  “We’re even too,” I confessed. “After I saved Harmonia, he helped the campus. I don’t think he’d go for it either. Eros isn’t the most… agreeable of the gods.”

  “Surely, you have built up some social capital with these immortals with all those shit you make for them?” Benji persisted, aggravation coming through in his voice.