ATN 3: THE JAR IN THE MAZE

PREPARATIONS OF THE MISSION

Before the meeting, two things happened. At first, I saw Dadai in the field, roaming around. Not alone. Someone had caught up with him. Guess who? Yeah, Queen Roca. The two were talking. I felt good. So good that I called Riya and Hiya to show them this. I hadn't spent much time with these two since getting here. We promised to each other that we won't let Dadai see the end of this.

The other thing that happened was so sweet that it couldn't get joked around. All this time, ever since Abhro had returned from Ogygia, he looked different. More confident, more mature, and more sure about his powers. However, even after changing so much, he didn't seem different at all. He was still our little brother, not much afraid to make mistakes, with zero filter in his mouth, still the fun lover as he always was. It was somewhere inside where he had changed. All thanks to the immortal teenager goddess, Calypso. Anyway, what we saw when the three of us went to call Abhro for the meeting in the Queen's chamber nearly brought tears to my eyes.

Abhro was lying on the bed, wearing a black T-shirt. He had his phone in his hand, and there, on the screen, there was a selfie he had clicked. In that selfie, there was a girl. She had hazelnut coloured hair, olive skin tone, and green eyes. Her face was overall expressionless, but her smile was very pure. She wore a long white sleeveless dress. She seemed to be about sixteen years old. She wore golden wrist braces. She seemed powerful, but still, she seemed humane. She seemed timeless, and yet, she seemed childish. This couldn't have been anyone other than Calypso. Holy Mama! Was Abhro in love with an immortal goddess? 

I and Riya telepathically agreed to not break this revelation to Abhro. If he had kept this from us, he must have had a reason. So, while Riya was asking Hiya to keep the revelation to herself, I called Abhro for the meeting. He woke up, and the four of us went to the Queen's chamber. 

The chamber wasn't a throne room or something. It was the Queen's room, the place where she lived. We went there. I checked the clock in the room. We had been here about five minutes late. There were many people already here; Gerard, Urwa, Iris, and Tina, who had left for the chamber right before I had gone to call my cousins. The Queen herself wasn't here (We know where she was, don't we?)

The room was pretty big, apparently, the second biggest room in the whole Themiscyra. Urwa had said last night that Themiscyra had no market, or shops. But five of the girls would get into the Labyrinth, and with Ares's blessing, would reach Sparta, Ares's other home-ground, and get supplies for a month. Fun! Anyway, the room had everything that a room needs: lights, sofa, chairs, fan, window, door, tables, coffee maker, a bed, cupboards, weapon holders and an AC. The walls were grey.

Iris was sitting on the biggest chair, with Tina on another chair next to her. Gerard sat on the sofa, where Riya and Hiya sat. I took a chair next to Iris and Tina, and Abhro sat on Iris's chair's handle (smooth). Urwa sat on another chair right next to Gerard, while a single sofa was left empty for Delilah.

Dadai and Delilah arrived soon enough. Iris and Tina gave Dadai a look. Tina even wanted to ask. But before we could say anything, Delilah said, "I met Avik on the way. We got to talking. He has so much interesting things in him, that we forgot about the time."

I, Riya and Hiya exchanged looks, and smiled. Thankfully, no one saw it. Anyway, as Delilah sat on her Queen sofa, and Dadai sat on the bed itself. The meeting began.

Iris asked Hiya to produce the paper that had the Prophecy written on it. Hiya took it out and read it aloud. All of us looked at Gerard during the line about Achilles's brother. After the reading, Urwa said, "So, we need to find Pandora's box, which is somewhere in the Labyrinth. Do we know where?"

"No." I said, "We need to find that out."

"What is this Pandora's box anyway?" Gerard asked. He was new to this Greek world.

"In punishment to Prometheus stealing fire from Olympus, the gods took revenge on him and human kind through his brother, Epimetheus." Iris started telling the tale, "They created a girl named Pandora. She was made beautiful, wise, kind, calm, generous and healthy. Despite Prometheus's warnings, Epimetheus married Pandora. As a present in the wedding, Zeus gifted Pandora a box, which looks like a jar, but warned her never to open it. However, Pandora got curious, and opened the box. When she did, horrifying things like greed, envy, strife, hunger, poverty, pain, sickness, death, etc. were released in the human world. Before the box could get empty, Pandora shut it. The only thing that lied deep below these horrors was Hope, a power so strong, that it can give you all the mental strength to fight these horrors. The box was taken by Athena after that, who felt bad at what her family had done, and kept it deep in the Labyrinth. It was never opened again."

"Until," Tina said, "Prometheus, free from his punishment, decided to pay the box a visit, and with his smart intelligence, opened the box slightly, so that Hope doesn't escape. He put trickery inside the box, and left it there. Then, only recently, Viraj found the box."

"Viraj?" Delilah asked.

"He was a son of Heracles." Riya said. Her voice seemed defiant, and she looked down while speaking, "He appeared to us as a friend, but was a traitor. He worked for Jared. While going around with him, he somehow got into the Labyrinth, and found the box, without exactly knowing the place or the box. Apparently, he opened it only as much Prometheus did, and absorbed the power of trickery inside himself, making his reality invisible to even Helios."

"What happened to him?" Gerard asked.

"He fought us in Delphi." Riya said, "I killed him, since he was trying to kill Jay."

"Killed him?" Urwa looked at her, wide eyed, "I didn't know anyone other than Ares's blood to have the guts to kill in cold blood."

"We are trained by a daughter of Ares, Urwa." I said.

"Oh, right." Urwa said, "How did you kill him?"

"Overdose of nectar."

The Amazons looked dumbfounded. We told them what had happened. They looked at us with aspiring eyes, until Gerard said, "Everything that we suffer from, everything that kills us, is their giving." He seemed angry, "And we are fighting for the gods? Why?"

"We are not fighting for them." Tina said, "We are fighting to save the world. If the giants win, they destroy this world, and everything that we love in it. We are fighting to keep the things that we love alive." Gerard nodded.

"So," Dadai started now, "We need to get into the Labyrinth. We need to find a way to the box, finally open it, and release Hope upon this world in these tough times. For that, we need to find an entrance to the Labyrinth."

"However, there is a question." I said, "How do we navigate in there?"

"Yeah, true." Hiya said, "If the Labyrinth can get to Athens, who knows where it could go?"

"It spreads across all Europe, underground. And it plays tricks with human vision." Iris said, "And I know someone who will definitely help you, once you get inside."

"Who gets inside?" Delilah asked.

"I and Jay." Tina said, "We were chosen by Athena and Hermes to find the box. So, we get in."

"Then, lets go now, before its dark." Delilah said, "You all need to see the place where you have to get in through."

All of us got up, and we left for the entrance to the Labyrinth.