At night, Aaric was preparing the things he wanted to bring with him to the Dreamlands. He was in an isolated room in the mansion with a bottomless pouch lying in front of him.
"Find me a better way... I don't want a repeat of the time I brought something out of the Dreamlands," Aaric muttered to himself.
{Affirmative}
He heard in his mind, and a method, along with its explanation, entered his consciousness.
"Good, let's do that," he nodded to himself and sat on the ground with the pouch in his hands. "Ready," he said out loud.
The skin of his chest area stretched and bulged before it formed a bloodless opening, where Aaric entered the pouch a second later.
"That was... something," Aaric said with a grimace before shrugging and going back to his room. He went to sleep and gathered the people he wanted to enter the Dreamlands with.
Elder Huo waved before he took off on the winged stag. Edwina and Simon flew away as usual; they would go around exploring the Dreamlands, meeting gods, seeing worlds, and helping people if needed.
Aaric, Luna, and Daphne were the only ones left, and they started flying toward the golden tree.
"Mum asked to meet you the last time we talked," Luna mentioned as they were flying.
"Take me with you next time then, Angel. I would love to meet her as well," Aaric answered as he smiled lovingly at her. Luna smiled back and held his hand as they neared the golden tree.
The three landed in front of the 'Blanks' that the golden tree had formed, and Aaric held out his pouch with a grin.
The first thing he took out were the scales of Veldora he was given. He placed one of the scales in one Blank. The water rippled and accepted the scale before it dissolved, and purple lightning patterns started moving within the water.
Next, he produced the silver primordial daemon he had rescued from the Daemon Realm.
He placed the whole vial in the water and watched it dissolve, and the body of the fox regenerated inside the water bubble. The fox coiled itself in the water as it gained a silver sheen.
Aaric stepped back and observed the process for a little bit before nodding.
"This may take some time. How about we visit Olympia in the meantime?" Aaric asked, and Luna created a portal beside her with a wave of her hand.
Aaric held Luna and Daphne by the waist as they entered the portal and appeared at the edge of the castle of the gods.
"You arrive at the right time," they heard the voice of Hestia behind them and looked back. "Hephaestus has been reborn," Hestia added with a happy smile on her face.
"Come, dears. Join in the celebration," Hestia said, giving them a hug each before bringing them inside.
In the castle, they were met with a scene of grand celebrations. A massive Colosseum had been formed, with the gods seated in the observer seats and an uncountable number of people in the viewing area as warriors faced off against each other.
"Are we watching people kill each other now?" Luna asked as they entered the viewing area of the gods while hugging Aaric's arm. She tried her best for it not to sound like an accusation, as she thought there must be a good explanation for that.
"They all are already dead. And the warriors participating in the matches volunteered themselves as they love fighting and glory," Hades explained gently.
The three nodded and looked toward Hades's left to see a new god among them. He seemed to be in his twenties, with black hair and red eyes.
He had a toned and muscular body, but one of his legs was a metal prosthetic. He wore a simple Exomis and Pilos as he looked at them as well.
"It is good to finally meet you, Lord Hephaestus," Aaric said and gave Hephaestus a bow.
"I was told you helped in my resurrection by freeing... Mother. Thank you," Hephaestus replied with a gruff but genuinely thankful voice.
He did seem to have a little trouble with saying the word mother but did not seem completely opposed to it.
"It was her who did everything she could..." Aaric said, getting a smile from Hera, who was sitting with Prometheus.
Hephaestus nodded and looked back at the games in the colosseum. He seemed to have a lot on his mind.
Hera gestured to the seats beside her for Aaric and the girls to sit. They greeted Hades and Persephone before moving toward Hera, who gave the three a hug and a kiss on the cheek before they sat in their seats.
"There are not ordinary people," Daphne muttered as she saw the scale of the fight in front of them. A tall man with a shield and a spear was fighting a winged serpent in an epic duel of speed and strength.
"He is a half-giant," Hera told them.
They nodded and watched the fight with more interest.
The man crouched with his spear in front of him and, with a powerful leap, soared to the sky, right above the serpent. Mid-air, he created a platform and kicked it, propelling himself down with a shockwave.
He became a blur as he fell on the serpent with his spear and shield in front of him. The serpent flapped its wings and moved its body around the attack, dexterously.
The man moved the spear parallel to the ground, wanting to make a cut in the serpent's body from top to bottom. However, with a swift movement of the serpent's tail, the man was flung away and fell on the ground with his body bent unnaturally.
"Don't these serpents guard the castle?" Aaric asked Hades; he remembered seeing them when he first met Hades.
"Yes, they are the spawn of Typhon. We raise them to be protectors," Hades said with a nod.
"How does he even... you know?" Aaric asked with a tilt of his head.
"They just appear near the place he is imprisoned, not born," Hades explained with a shrug.
The games continued the whole day after that, with feasts and drinks going all around. Aaric and the girls exited the colosseum long before the celebrations came to an end, specifically when Aaric noticed the people had lost themselves and were having orgies in the spectator stands.
"Well, they are Greek after all," Aaric muttered and removed his hands from Luna and Daphne's eyes.
"What's that supposed to mean?" They heard and saw Hephaestus leaning on a pillar beside them.
"You know what I mean," Aaric said with a shrug.
Hephaestus scratched his head before shrugging; Aaric was not wrong, after all.
And it's not like the gods... the ones who were left were participating anyway.
"Can I have a moment with you?" Hephaestus asked Aaric and glanced at Luna and Daphne.
Aaric shrugged and gave Luna and Daphne a kiss before they entered a portal made by Daphne and left.
Hephaestus started walking with Aaric beside him. However, even after they walked for about five minutes, Hephaestus had not spoken, as if he did not know how to start.
"How did you die? I mean, what happened then?" Aaric asked Hephaestus the hard question to begin with.
"Well... I was helping Zeus," Hephaestus said with a grimace.
"It's not like even Zeus wanted to hurt you, but he took the order not to as a slight on his pride," Hephaestus added after a bit and sighed.
"There were so many gods present. Enough to fill worlds with just gods. Every god who disagreed stepped forward and charged at once. We did not wish to fight, but we had to charge with our king," Hephaestus paused after he said that and shook his head, not wanting to continue.
"Why aren't you or the other dissatisfied with me? You all have even helped me," Aaric asked.
"It was not your fault. You were not even there," Hephaestus said with a shrug.
"We gods have our flaws and hubris... I know that. But we have the sense to realize that in front of Vasuki we are not even ants... the ones who are alive understand at least," Hephaestus added and patted Aaric's shoulder.
Hephaestus stopped walking after that and stood face to face with Aaric.
"Can you... help me with reviving Aphrodite?" he asked Aaric; it seemed that was what he wanted to ask since the beginning.
"Why would you want that? Lady Hera and Lady Hestia told me how she treated you," Aaric asked with a tilt of his head.
"She was my wife," Hephaestus whispered.
Aaric looked at Hephaestus for a long moment.
"I suggest you... explore more options until the next time we meet. And if by then you still want to revive her, I will help you," Aaric promised, getting a deep nod from Hephaestus.
"Thank you for considering. Do you need my help with something till then?" Hephaestus asked.
Aaric nodded and gave Hephaestus Simon's sword and the Septem Orichalcum metal he had made.
"Can you reforge this sword with this metal and make one spear and one more sword as well?" Aaric asked Hephaestus as he inspected the sword and metal.
"Hmm, good metal. Shouldn't be a problem," Hephaestus muttered, and the things disappeared with a wave of his hand.
"You should join the celebrations. They are for you after all," Aaric suggested.
Hephaestus nodded and went back, his prosthetic leg causing a metallic sound as he walked.
A/n: Give me your thought on the chapter and reviews on the fic.
And.. you got any power stones? Well, hand em over then.