ATN 3: THE JAR IN THE MAZE

TENERIFE SEA

As soon as we reached the main area, we asked the first Amazon we met, "What's the date?"

Apparently, we had been in there for two days. Tina ran to check if the entry was still there. She came back with positive news. Yes, this was a video game. These cracked wall exits were game saving portals. 

Unfortunately, to bum you out, this is not an Ed Sheeran song. This is the only part in this mission that actually went slightly easy for us. Because after this, things only got bad to worse.

On our return, we were welcomed. We were returning with information. We shared all that we got, except for the Divine Source. When I found Iris alone, I told her about it. She seemed deeply worried. She said, "Jay, this isn't good. He can actually kill all of us, now that he knows our reasons of immortality. He is invulnerable, with none of us knowing where his only weakness is. He knows about the Divine Source, and the only thing stopping him is the Ophiotaurus."

"Ophio...what?" I asked, visibly confused.

"I'll show you." Iris created one of those rainbows she makes, and flicked her finger. The rainbow divided in half and showed me a picture. There, I could see a creature. It was a bull, but also a snake. I mean, it had the head, body, and forelegs of a bull, but the tail of a snake. It was in a room protected by heavy magical barriers. Yeah, I could feel it even from here. Iris explained, "This is the Ophiotaurus, the bane of the gods. If this creature is killed and its entrails burned, it would provide the power to destroy the Source to the one who burns it, which would kill the gods. With the confidence Jared was showing, I am figuring that he knows where this guy is. I am hoping that the gods know this, and are seeing this. Jared has to be stopped from killing the creature."

"How is he doing that?"

"Because of a Styx oath by Demeter. No matter how bad he is, Jared is still Demeter's son. And the girl you saw, Elisha? She is her daughter. Demeter made Zeus promise on Styx that no god would hurt these two, right after Zeus decided to smite Jared's father. And since oaths made on Styx are unbreakable, so..."

"The gods have no choice but to watch him do what he does."

"Yeah. But you mortal children made no such promises. You have a huge task at hand. Find the box, free Hope, fight the giants, whom Jared must be using as a distraction, stop Jared, and save the world."

"No pressure." I said. I had finished my syllabus for tenth grade in a month. This was nothing.

And then, it hit me. Iris was doing her rainbow magic again. She was banned from using her powers here, and her portals didn't work here. How was she doing it? I decided to ask, "Hold on, Iris, the rainbow, the magic..."

"I got my powers back." She said, "The banishment has been lifted. I went to the place I buried the girls, begged for forgiveness, heard them in my head, and got my powers back by an hour. Now, I am the same here as I am there."

"Brings me high hopes." I said, "Hey, can you do us a favor tomorrow?"

"I thought you will never ask, dear." Iris said, with a grin that she is so known for.

Next morning, Iris broke the news in front of the Queen, who was sitting on her throne. They called this place the Citadel, though I couldn't see how it was one. This was no fortress. The Amazons were basically the only creatures living on the island, except for Gerard. The cabins were as open as a market. The throne was in the field, with a beautiful shade. There were training grounds all around it. Had it not been the Amazons, anyone would come and invade Themiscyra. Since it was the Amazons, no one dared (Those girls kill for fun).

Anyway, the people in the Citadel clapped at this. The Amazons went on to demand Iris show some of her magic, since it was not regular for them to see a god who was not Ares, who, no offence, had no fun magic to show, except for cool spear work. She wanted to oblige, but before that, she had to do some work. And as soon as she signaled to us, I and Tina came running at her. She opened a portal, and we walked through it. The next moment, we landed in Tenerife.

Had I not visited Atlantis, or the hill stations in India, I would have deemed Tenerife as the most beautiful city I had ever been to. We had landed in front of a water park, named Siam. The boards around mentioned that this place was Costa Adeje. But as Hestia had said, we needed to find Dionysus in a beach.

We walked through the streets. I had watched Spanish streets in ZNMD (Bollywood movie), but to see them up close, it was a superb feeling. The streets were a little narrow, but beautiful, with beautiful buildings around, stone paved ways, nice cool breeze, and artistic graffities on the walls. I understood why many people were taking a walk through these streets. I looked at Tina, her swords sheathed behind her back. "Do these people see us?" I asked her.

"Of course they do." She said.

"And the swords?"

"The swords can't see us, Jay. What kind of a question is that?"

"What? No. I meant do these people see the swords?"

"Its your Mom's magic, Jay. You tell me."

I had no answer to that. I guessed that Mom's veil magic was so strong that these people must have seen the swords as some kind of a backpack. There was a thought in my mind, which I spoke out then, "Tina, if the situation wasn't what it is now, I would have worked something with Iris to bring you here on a date."

"This is a great idea." She said, smiling, "Let's survive the war. Then we will do it."

I asked an old man by the road about the way to the beach. He provided us with directions. We entered a street according the directions, and what I saw made me flinch. There were four horses, looking at us. No no, snarling at us. It shocked me that horses could snarl. Then, the four stallions bared fangs. No, not teeth, but fangs, like those of tigers. 

Before we could comprehend what these tiger-horses were, all four of them attacked us.