Of Stone and Order

~Of Stone & Order

The Titans were defeated, those old rulers of the Earth. A moment for respite for the Olympians, after a long and arduous War, had at long last arrived.

In solitude Hephaestus toiled down in his forge, yet most frustrated now he was. Fresh ore he would smelt and every bit turned liquid, but to freeze it solid he could not. No wind of the Northern lands could cool this fluid and no frigid splash of the ghastly Acheron’s waters would quench it.

In despair Hephaestus seeks the wisest, though none other than him is there, to so finely wield this craft. Athena he calls forth and at once she rushes to the fellow Olympian’s aid.

‘Behold Athena!’ unto her cries the smith god, ‘Behold the ruin of my craft! The mighty blaze of the Plutonian depths melts all, turning stone to blazing rivers! Alas, the melt never turns to stone again! Inspect this infernal pond, I beg of you. Cast your insight, lest the world be molten whole!’

She spoke not, but peered intently into the melt. She dipped her hand into the pond and in her palm she brought it close, to be examined. Gazing into it keen eyes, she uncovers the hidden cause.
‘Order Hephaestus, order is required for stone and metal to manifest.’ Confused he looked at her, as she proceeded to enlighten. ‘The Titans ruled all, living or inanimate, enforcing order upon every single aspect of existence. Now they rule no longer and among others, this liquid too is in shambles.’

‘What are we to do then, sister? Certainly not release the Titans, tempted as I may be to do so!’ Hephaestus inquires.

‘No such thing is thankfully required.’ she calmly reassures. ‘We wield equal might and wit, not to be dwarfed by anything they’d wrought forth.’

In the infernal pools she crafted fine shapes, two sorts of which to be precise. One with eight sides and another yet with four. Equally apart she spaces them, thus ushering the first stone. From the pits of Tartarus to the heights of Uranus the soul of Hephaestus leaped in joy ecstatic and relief most yearned for.

‘A thousands blessing upon you, Athena! A thousand indeed and a thousand more again! This first stone in your honour we shall name! The fruit of your brilliant mind shall be named after the fruit of your sacred tree. Olivine! What say you?’

‘Your words do me great honour, master smith. But there is plenty more of work for us, in these ponds of liquid fire.’ Athena responded.

‘Indeed there is!’ The smith joyfully exclaimed, immediately raising his great hammer to link fine shapes together and forge them into chains. A new stone would soon appear, blistering hot yet far now from the primordial flames. A stranger to the ancient fire, Pyroxene the stone was named.

The pounding of the Smith went not unheard and Poseidon, ever envious of Athena’s wit, took notice of the noble deed. Hurried thus, the lord of the ocean, to the smith god’s forge, intent on proving himself superior. ‘Fools, what place have you striving to tame that which is liquid, when every single wave and flow halts, turns and proceeds as I command? I shall craft a stone of the ultimate complexity, spreading in all height, width and length, unlike your petty dots and lines!’ Poseidon was master of all that is liquid, yes. But over solid, no authority did he ever possess.

His work was rough, the stone oddly tilted, constantly forming in the ponds and never nearing its completion. This hindered not his arrogance, of course. ‘Behold, no other stone is now required from the blazing start to the frigid end! What say you now?’ He mockingly inquires.

‘Monotonous and crooked your creation, as your conceited ravings are!’ Responds Hephaestus not the least bit pleased. ‘Be gone now and let a smith craft in peace!’ Too late it was to undo Poseidon’s blunder, so there would remain the tilted stone, the Plagioclase.

Unexpectedly and inexplicably, the chains that once formed Pyroxene would assemble into a different oddity as the ponds cooled. A stone made too of chains, but of doubtful nature, Amphibole they named it.

Next Hephaestus lifted the chains to eye level, glanced at them for but a moment and knew how to proceed. Side by side the chains were bound, as if crafting a mail chain, a specialty of his. Fine sheets he hammered, reveling in each blow. Two stones as such he forged, in an order most specific. First with black sheets Biotite was made, then with sheets of white Muscovite he crafted.

Athena notices the craftsmanship of each lustrous sheet and recalls Poseidon’s poor creation. ‘Hephaestus!’ she exclaimed, with epiphany in mind. ‘Bind them one atop the other, solid blocks ‘tis time to forge!’ Thus one atop the other Hephaestus stacked them and firmly hammered them in place. Completion was nigh and the final stone were soon to come.

The first stone was perfect in its form and pale in its colour. Refusing to give in to disarray even upon shattering, instead splitting in right angles. Orthoclase, the stone was named.

Then Hephaestus pounded harder, binding the blocks tighter still. A stone hard and resilient came forth, the ponds now solid. Quartz it was named and with it the Crisis would end.

~Wraith.I