THESE HIDDEN WINGS

[137] ODIN

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I'm going to fight for you, Talanda

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I MARVELED AT the statues of the twelve main gods that were the Firsts.

From Zeus to Hera, Apollo, Athena, Poseidon, Hades, Ares, Dionysus, and then lastly, the one we stood before, Hephaestus.

A muscular tall-looking god with a heavy ax that I was completely sure weighed tonnes in his hands, a bushy look in his eyes that looked strangely familiar as it had with Hercules.

The gods that stood before us were only the average height of a fully grown man, but that didn't take away the dominance that oozed through them.

I still felt like cowering underneath their powerful gaze and somehow I knew that back then, many humans fell to their knees before them, and in their reign, they dominated.

I owed all this to Mr. Ogustus as I had never seen statues that felt like all they needed was the breath of life to live again.

I marveled at this statue, kind of wishing I was alive back then, just to see how beautiful they were.

Behind each of the statues were faces from every civilization and religion, some bearing nearly the same look whilst others had changed drastically to fit their new surroundings, displaying new powers too.

All twelve gods, all beautiful.

I paused when my eyes trailed from Zeus, Hades to Poseidon, eyebrows furrowing when I spotted that Hade's line was nearly empty and shorter than the rest with only two statues behind him.

I turned to Lucas who was still standing beside me, his hoody was drawn over his head, but a knowing look in his eyes as I signed the question I was beginning to assume he knew I was going to ask even before I did,

"w-wheres the rest of Hades?"

I mean it was more than a millennium and he was only depicted by two other faces, the last of which seemed very much distorted as if the sculpture didn't know what to sculpt anymore.

Could it be that the very Knowledgeable Mr. Ogustus had failed to track the faces of Hades as he had so easily done with the other gods?

"Hades," he echoed though it didn't sound as much of a question as it was phrased to be, he looked back at the statue of Poseidon we stood under.

"I'm not sure," he replied plainly with a shrug, an answer I was not expecting as he seemed to have it.

"I mean," he began, eyes narrowing down on the statue of Hades, which resembled both Zeus and Poseidon with his bident (pitchfork-like implement),

"Would the god of hell have that many different faces even over the years? I would think almost every religion has a similar face of the devil," he reasoned.

"He wasn't the devil," I signed back.

"What?" he asked, full attention on me making me feel self-aware.

I blushed for a moment and I wondered how I was going to sign it.

It was a long explanation, and that meant I would have to go slow for him to get my hand movements.

"Mr. Ogutus," I began slowly, taking in a deep breath as his eyes watched my hand movements,

"Taught us of the ancients," I continued, nodding along with gestures as if trying to confirm that he was following me ultimately achieving it when his feral gaze seemed to brighten for a moment.