Stone Cold NV: World of Sin, Book 1

by J. A. X. Mikesell

  “That blasted mayor is too stubborn to listen. I’ll bet he Shifts into a bull.” He helps us gather the ingredients before we head out. “I’ve already called Chris, he’s paying his bill in the diner downstairs and will meet us outside. Let’s go.”

  ◆◆◆

  We stepped out of the portal underneath Kilauea and rushed to Hephaestus.

  “We have everything we need now. Can we use your hammer and anvil?” I asked hurriedly by way of greeting.

  Hephaestus nods and places the hammer down.

  “If you can wield it, you can use it.” He walks off to examine some of his machines and their work.

  I set the potion book next to the anvil and scan the instructions.

  “Ok, first we need to crush the anemone and hemlock plants into a powder, add the ambrosia, and then feed it all to the Anima.”

  “Let’s do it, Az. We don’t have much time.” Pappy says hurriedly.

  I placed the anemone and hemlock on the anvil and picked up the hammer.

  As I swing it, there is a force field that pops up around the anvil that won’t allow me to continue, and after a few attempts Cory says:

  “Wait, you didn’t say anything about the blood from Gavin. Maybe that’s why it’s not working.”

  I skim the list of instructions again. “Hmm… It just says, ‘using the essence of virtue, hammer plants into dust.’ I guess maybe we have to have the blood on the hammer first?”

  Cory opens the envelope with the bloody napkin and rubs it onto the hammer, before I try again. Only to hit the force field again.

  “I don’t understand why this isn’t working. Hephaestus, I thought you said if we can wield the hammer it would work. It keeps stopping before it can get to the anvil.” I called out.

  “Then you are not meant to wield it. Only those who are meant to can bypass the shield.” Hephaestus‘ voice said, sounding from all around.

  “How the bloody swamp hags hovel are we supposed to find the one meant to wield it?” Cory shouted.

  “Do not take that tone with me, mortal. Perhaps you have read the spell incorrectly?” His voice calls out sternly.

  “We got all the ingredients it calls for.” I said, bending over the book again I read the ingredients out loud while pointing to each item.

  “I did not see or feel the essence of a virtue among you.”

  “That’s what the blood is for.” I said, rolling my eyes.

  “The essence does not always mean blood. It could mean their hair, or memories.”

  “Well, what if we just bring the entire virtue here?” Cory asked, keeping her voice calmer. “Wait, we wouldn’t need to sacrifice him… Would we?”

  “I don’t think that’s the type of magic you would find in a spell book these days, Cory.” Pappy said. “The darkest spells have been removed from any book that the council has found. This one is a pretty old book, so I doubt it was missed with the sweep.”

  “Maybe it’s just his hair, or memories like Hephaestus said. Let’s go see if we can get him to come with us.” I said.

  Tineva/Cory

  Tineva is pacing around the table holding the bowl of silver liquid.

  “That blasted hag of a demon! Why is she taking so long to get the remaining souls?” She screamed into the liquid.

  Indecipherable words come out of the bowl

  “Well, tell her to grow a backbone and to confront Araminta! She can control her and force her to finish the souls we need to for my plan to be complete.”

  More speech from the bowl.

  “We all like to torture humans! Make. Her. Finish. She can torture more of them after I have been released.”

  ◆◆◆

  Az, Pappy and I show up to Gavin’s house and ring the doorbell. After a couple minutes, Gavin answers the door, looking shocked and a little sick.

  “I thought you would never have come back. Please tell me you don’t need any more of my blood.” He said, his eyebrows lowering in a worried look.

  “No, apparently we were wrong about that. Your blood isn’t the essence we needed.” I explained. “My brother found out it might be some of your hair or possibly memories.”

  “How would my memories help?” Gavin asked skeptically.

  “Different things can happen with certain ingredients in a spell or potion. The potion that we are working on, apparently will remain mute and ineffective unless we can figure out the exact component we need from you directly.” Pappy explained, giving his best impression of a schoolteacher. “Just like with cooking. If you make a cake and add 3 eggs instead of 2, it will almost always come out softer, fluffier, and more moist. Whereas the cake with just 2 eggs will possibly come out a bit dry and crumbly.”

  “Ok…” Gavin said slowly. “That makes a little more sense. But I’m still not comfortable with it. How do I know you wouldn’t be trying to cast a spell on me personally?”

  “The Council is in the business of saving people. Not hurting anyone in the process.” Pappy explained. “If you would be more comfortable with it, you are welcome to come with us to the place where we are making the potion. Then you can see for yourself what it is.”

  “I’m not sure if that would really help. How do I know you aren’t trying to sacrifice me?” Gavin asked, wide eyed.

  “I promise you that would never be an option.” Az told him. “We would never use black magic… Well, nothing more than a small drop of blood.”

  Gavin looked between all of us, his face showing a range of emotions from fear to wonder.

  “I’ll come with you, as long as I can bring my father and my best friend.” Gavin said stubbornly. “I would just need to call my friend and have him meet me here. Thankfully, he just got back to town.”

  “I don’t see any problem with that at all.” Pappy said. “If it makes you more comfortable, then please do so.”

  Gavin went into the other room after inviting them in, presumably to talk to his father and call his friend. After a couple minutes, his father came out and regarded us with a weird look before sitting down on the recliner by the front window.

  “Hello sir.” Pappy said to him. “I hope you are alright with coming along. We won’t be ruining any plans for this evening, will we?”

  “Just my shows.” The old man grumbled. “But I’ll just have to deal with that. My boy needs to be safe. An anteater can’t rightly defend itself from any long range attacks. Having a bird Shifter nearby is better for him. And that Ashen friend of his, he’s a good one. I like him. Being immune to almost all magic from you Madgie helps to ease my worries even more.”

  “We’re happy to have you all along.” I said to him.

  We sat in silence for another couple of minutes before Gavin came back into the room.

  “He’s on his way now. Should be here in about five minutes.” He said. “I’m still not so sure about this. But with Frank there, I’ll be a lot more comfortable.”

  About ten minutes later we hear a knock on the door and Gavin goes to answer it, talking in a hushed tone to the man before letting him in so we can meet him. We hear the door close and Gavin comes in, looking relieved at having his friend behind him.

  “Ok, this is my friend-” He started before I jumped up from the couch and ran to the man.

  “Grimby!” I shouted as I launched into him, giving him a hug.

  “Cory? Az?” Grimby sounded confused. “You’re the two that are asking for some weird things from Gavin?”

  “Dude, I didn’t know you were from around here.” Az said to him as he walked over and took Grimby’s hand. “We’re actually working for the Council on something right now, and Gavin here is an integral part of the process. He wanted to have his dad and apparently you with him to make sure he stayed safe. I’m definitely glad to see you.”

  “Wait, you know these two, Frank?” The old man said from by the window.

  “I do. We met on the train on the way to camp. And then we were pretty much inseparable the whole time. We all helped ea
ch other with the difficult decisions on various things.” Grimby replied. “And please, Mr. Harron, call me Grimby.”

  “So you trust them then?” Gavin asked hopefully.

  “Oh yes. You should see how these two can handle a conflict. Especially if it is someone attacking one of them, or their friends. They band together and make sure that the other person knows not to come back.”

  “Well, then.” Gavin said, sighing. “Shall we go? I don’t want my dad to miss his shows. He may seem like he’s fine with it because he wants me safe. But he’ll be crabby until next week's episodes.”

  “I do no such thing.” The old man said. “But I would like to get this done, so I know my boy is safe. Let’s move people. I ain’t dead yet.”

  Grimby

  As we are heading back to the hotel to meet up with the council member portal Madgie to travel back to Hephaestus’ lair, I tell Az and Cory how I was offered a position in an upscale restaurant in Los Angeles.

  “I got a position as a chef at a restaurant called Providence in LA. I guess I impressed the camp instructor with my abilities in the kitchen, and he’s a long-time friend of the owner there. So he called the guy up and told him that he needed to hire me immediately or they’d be sorry.” I explained. “Lariska was equally lucky, she got a position in a greenhouse close to there as well. I’m glad I’ll at least know someone in the area when I go.”

  “That’s awesome Grimby!” Gavin said, slapping me on the shoulder. “I knew you would do great.”

  “Well, it does help that I can breathe a little bit of fire.” I said, blushing at the praise. “They like that I can flame broil in a shorter amount of time than they can.”

  “I can’t wait to come and see you in action.” Gavin said.

  “I’ll make sure to save a table for you.” I replied laughing.

  We arrived at the gas station on the corner where the portal Madgie had been waiting, leaning against the building reading a book. He moved the bookmark from the back of the book to the spot he was on, then a small portal opened in front of him and he put the book in it before turning to us.

  “Ready to go back to Hephaestus?” He asked, nodding when we told him yes.

  He turned to the side and a taller portal opened up. Wide enough for everyone to walk through together at the same time.

  ◆◆◆

  Stepping out of the portal, we walked directly into a globe of dark green mist with a spot of light blue acting as a window in front of our faces. We had stepped onto a small landing on one side of a river of molten lava, a footbridge connecting it to a much bigger area with a bunch of machines walking around, carrying different objects or pouring lava from one stone jug to the next. There was one that looked like a leopard, another looked like a bull, and one that almost looked human.

  “That’s more like it. I could sense the virtue from the moment the portal opened. He even has almost the same soul as the first one I had met eons ago.” A giant hulk of a man said as he turned from an anvil and regarded us.

  “Wait… You met a virtue? The same one?” Cory asked.

  “Of course, from the first time my hammer and anvil were used to defeat Araminta. Her father prayed for days to many gods before he heard of me and figured that my equipment would be the best to defeat her.” Hephaestus said with a faraway look in his eyes. “Of course, it took him longer to get all the ingredients than you did. Little did he know that he had a son hidden away in a hole and was the virtue that was needed. Well, I’ll leave you to it. I need to go fix some of my automatons. Let me know if you need anything else.”

  He walks off as Az takes Gavin over to the hammer and anvil to show him the ingredients and to reassure him again that he won’t be sacrificed.

  “So really all I need to do is give you some of my hair?” Gavin asked, “Odd, but ok.”

  They take some hair and add it to the other ingredients on the anvil before Az picks up the hammer again.

  “You just crush those and that’s it?” I asked, “How does that create a potion?”

  “Well, after I get them crushed, I add them into the vial of ambrosia. Then I have to give it a little spark of my Madgie mist, shake it, and it’s done. From there we give it to the raccoon to drink it, and that’s how it infects the demon. At least, that’s what the book says.”

  Az picked up the hammer and swung it toward the anvil. Before it could connect, it hit an iridescent shield before making contact.

  “EEAARGH!!” Az screamed in frustration and slammed the hammer into the ground, nearly crushing his foot.

  “Well, I guess we’ll see if memories are the right ingredient instead.” Cory suggested.

  As we are debating on how to get memories extracted, Hephaestus comes over to see what the fuss was all about.

  “What in Zeus are you trying to do, break my floor?” He asked as he bent to check for cracks. “What did you do this time?”

  “We added some hair to the ingredients and the hammer still hit that hag blasted shield.” Az said heatedly. “Now we’re just trying to figure out how to extract memories like you had said without hurting him.”

  “Didn’t you say you needed the essence from the virtue you have with you?” Hephaestus asked.

  “Yes, but nothing we do seems to be working. We tried his blood and now his hair. But both times nothing happened.” Az said.

  Hephaestus laughs for a minute before asking who the virtue is. We all pointed to Gavin.

  “While he does have more characteristics of the virtue than a normal person, he is not, in fact, the virtue you are looking for.” Hephaestus said, chuckling.

  Az, Cory, Pappy, Gavin and I all look at each other confused.

  “But you specifically said that the virtue is here when we came in. You even said you could feel him before we stepped through the portal.” Az said, annoyed.

  Hephaestus nodded his confirmation.

  “That’s because he is here. It is him.” Hephaestus pointed a long blistery finger at me.

  “Me?” I sputtered. “But I’m an Ashen. I have no magical blood.”

  “You don’t have to be a magical entity. You just need to exhibit the qualities of that specific virtue.” Hephaestus said. “The priest from the first time we trapped Araminta in the void was pure human. Not a magical thing about him at all. Until after he married into a family of Shifters, and I gifted him with strength and fire for his acts, of course. But I digress. There can be thousands of people that house a portion of the virtue, and some will have more than others. The point is, you are a very kind person. Are you not?”

  “Well, I try to be.” I replied.

  “You don’t need to try my boy.” Hephaestus replied. “You plainly are, or you wouldn’t be standing here, willing to help.”

  “But I can’t be a virtue. I can get envious or jealous, and sometimes even get pretty mean.” I exclaimed. “Those are not the qualities of a virtue.”

  “But you are still kind, no matter what. Even if you are being mean, you are doing it for a purpose that has kindness behind it.” Hephaestus explains, “Pick up the hammer and give it a go.”

  I slowly and hesitantly picked up the hammer. Glancing at Az, who looked hopeful and rather like he just sucked on a lemon.

  Planting my feet and bending my knees, I brought the hammer over my head and swung it forward as hard as I could, holding my breath… And let it out in surprise as it connected with the anvil with a shower of sparks. Moving the hammer away, everyone crowded around to see that the flowers and roots were completely crushed and powdery.

  “So, we don’t need to use his blood, hair or anything?” Az asked, “Not that Ashen even have hair to begin with… The essence of a virtue, is simply to have them help with the spell?”

  “Magic is not to be interpreted lightly, Az.” Pappy said. “The simplest option is usually the correct route. If we had known this was what it meant from the beginning, then we would probably have been stuck trying to find a person that holds more virtue tha
n Gavin does.”

  Az swung his messenger bag around and pulled out a vial of some glowing amber liquid and opened it, setting it to the side. Then he grabbed a piece of paper and pushed the crushed ingredients onto it, folded it into a funnel and poured it into the vial. A small, bright blue spark shot from his fingers to the vial and he shook it a moment. The once amber liquid changed to be a deep emerald green color.

  “It worked!” Cory shouted.

  “Let’s get a move on, we can celebrate later.” Pappy said, holding out his arm to direct them back to the footbridge and the little landing over the lava.

  “Just a moment.” Hephaestus said, voice rumbling. “You haven’t given me my payment yet.”

  Az and Cory groaned before turning back.

  “Um, payment?” Gavin asked. “Payment for what?”

  “If you ask a god for help, you have to either give them something you have, or owe them a favor. That’s the payment they ask for when you seek their help.” Cory explained. “I forgot to ask about that before we asked for his help.”

  “What payment would you like?” Az asked.

  “Nothing from you two.” Hephaestus said, then looked at me. “I would like the payment from the virtue himself.”

  “I don’t have anything.” I said panicked. “I had sold everything I owned just to go to camp. And I just barely got a job, I won’t be getting paid for at least another few weeks once I start.”

  “I don’t want your mortal money.” Hephaestus said. “I want you.”

  I backed away, stopping when the lava river was holding me there.

  “No, you can’t have me.” I told him. “I just got a good start on life. I can’t lose it now.”

  “Not you, you…” Hephaestus said, rolling his eyes. “Your image, your strength. You can wield my hammer and anvil. Do you know how rare that is? To find a mortal strong enough to use the tools of a god?”

  Az and Cory stepped in front of me.