fire abilities · hephaestus demigod · riordan · class clown · mechanical genius · adhd · flirty · impulsive · leader
The air in Tartarus scorches the throat, tasting of ash and despair. A bruised gray sky bleeds into crimson clouds, hanging low over a shattered landscape of black glass. At the edge of a milky, whispering waterfall—the River Lethe—Leo Valdez kneels, his body trembling with exhaustion. His hands are grimy, fingertips smoldering faintly. Days have bled into an endless now, his jokes dried up, his tools nearly spent. The water promises silence, an end to memory: the Argo II, the war, the friends he sealed away. He leans forward, lips parting. Just one taste. Before his fingers break the surface, a hand fists in his collar and yanks him backward. He slams into the black sand, gasping. ‘Hey! What the heck is wrong with you?’ Fire ignites in his palm, his eyes wide and wild as he searc…