ATN: THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY

ROYAL AREA, AND...DAD?

The Royal Area was a huge area. I got to understand that this was the courtyard of the Atlantean palace. The satyr, who introduced himself to be Neo, said that Atlantis did not have a king anymore. The last king, Basil, died young, and childless. The queen Anastasia is ruling now, but she is getting old. Atlantis has no heir to the throne. Neo showed us around. Right in front of us, the palace was built. It was huge one, with white walls and with golden decorations on it. People were roaming around. Some were in full ancient war uniform: war-helmet, full body armor, different weapons. Even in the twilight, I could see an archery rink. There were wooden boards for targets. Dadai came close to me and asked, "You sure we aren't in Sparta?" I laughed. Dadai and I had once spent 500 rupees each for a course in Greek Mythology. The course wasn't wonderful, but we got to know a lot of things about the ancient Greeks. These people in war uniforms reminded me of them. The courtyard looked ancient in no way. The buildings around the palace, or even around the city looked completely modern. Only the palace, and these soldiers looked ancient. 

As we got closer to the palace, we saw a marble statue. The statue was of a long haired, bearded man in a loincloth, holding a trident. Riya looked at the statue, and asked, "Who's this guy?" Dadai and I looked at each other, smiled, and said, "That's Poseidon. God of the sea."

I turned towards Neo, and asked, "You guys still follow the Hellenic religion?" Neo replied, "Oh, Jay, we do so much more. We satyrs are full Hellenic creatures. Our first ancestors were born from Ouranos's golden ichor." He led us to the palace gate, and said, "I'll leave you here. You'll be taken to see the Queen soon. Don't worry, she is a gem of a soul." And he left us standing in front of a huge metal gate, with two guards standing on either side in war uniform and holding a spear each.

Then suddenly, the gate opened, and I had my first good event (only good event that year) in Atlantis. A girl of about my age, came out of that door, and stood in front of me. She was as tall as me, had a tanned skin tone, just like my sisters, had black eyes and long dark brown straight hair. She wore a red T-shirt with 'Daddy's Girl' written with black in the front, and jeans. She wore a metal belt, and had a sword tied to it, probably made of the same metal. She looked at me for a second, and I looked right away, for I had been staring at her since she had appeared. Then, she looked at my cousins, gave us a beautiful smile, and said, "Hi!"

"Hello!" We said in unison.

"I am Tina. I am here to escort you guys to the Queen, and the one to make you feel at home." She said this in clear Bengali, and we had our mouths opened. Dadai got over it, spoke first, "I am Avik Chatterjee, and this is..." 

"I know all of your names." Tina interrupted.

Riya was the next to shrug off the surprise, "You speak our tongue?"

"Yes." She chuckled, "My full name is Tina Roy. My family is from Asansol, West Bengal. Well, at least my Mom is. Lets talk on the way."

Tina told us a few things about herself, that she had been in Atlantis for six years. Her Mom was hear until she was fourteen, and then she returned to Asansol two years ago. Tia stayed back, because she had joined the army. Then, she stopped in front of a hall.

Man, that was one big, beautiful hall. Almost nine tube-lights were on, the walls were light blue in colour, and full of paintings. In front of us, were fourteen seats, and in one corner of the hall was a fireplace, fire burning there. Out of the fourteen seats, only five were taken. The biggest one, at the far end, was taken by a woman, most probably, Queen Anastasia. She looked to be in her early fifties, but still was fit enough. Her skin was a little reddish. She had long salt and pepper hair tied to a ponytail. She wore an olive green coloured gown. Her eyes were golden coloured. To her left, sat another woman. She looked in her late twenties. She wore a light violet coloured long gown. She had shoulder length black hair and grey eyes. In the other three occupied seats...

"Dad?" I exclaimed, wide eyed.

"Mom?" Riya and Hiya exclaimed together, wide eyed.

"Dad?" Dadai and Abhro exclaimed together, again, wide eyed.