ATN: THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY

THE RECEIVING CEREMONY PART-2

Iris moved her hand, and a door appeared next to the hearth. She opened the door and moved inside the room. We all followed her in.

This room was huge, with high ceiling, like the throne room or the dining hall, had stone walls, and a huge window on one side. I looked outside and saw another archery range. Tina was walking beside Riya. I caught up to them, and asked, "You guys still fight the ancient way?"

"Yes!" Tina said, "Except for Rahul, there. He fights in his own way, with guns and stuff."

I looked at Rahul, now taking notes from Hiya, about what her arrows should be like. Hiya was moving her hands to describe the arrows. I looked at Riya, and said, "Our little angel has already made a friend."

"Yes, she has." Riya said, "So have we." She looked at Tina, who smiled.

The most stunning and absolutely shocking thing about this room was the podium, and the one sitting on it. The podium had a big surface, and many things were kept on it. Small disc like stuff, probably made of Atlantium. There were more, but I couldn't make them out from where I was standing. So, I looked at the majestic thing sitting on it.

It was a bird the size of an eagle. But its wings looked bigger. Its beak and talons made it look like a bird of prey. But it was more beautiful than terrifying. It had a few extra feathers on its head. And it had a tail which was as long as its body. The most distinctive feature was the colour of its feathers. The bird looked like it had bathed in fire. The body was red, as we moved towards the wings, it got lighter and turned orange-ish, and the feet were yellowish. The eyes, beak and talons were black though. "What is that?" Riya asked.

"A phoenix." I said, "A real phoenix."

Tina looked at the bird proudly, and said, "A phoenix is an immortal bird. It never perishes. When it is its time to die, it bursts into flames itself, and burns to ashes. Then, it regenerates from the ashes, into a baby phoenix. It also understands human speech."

"I never thought I would see this in my life." I said. I looked at Riya. She was as dumbstruck as her sister, who was also getting the same lesson on the phoenix from Rahul. I couldn't look at my brothers as they were standing way ahead of me.

"This particular phoenix, however, is a gift to Atlantis from Helios, the Sun god." Tina said.

"That's Apollo, right?" I asked.

"No, Apollo was believed to be the Sun god for a long time, but it is still Helios. He is the driver of the Sun chariot."

"Oh! So, the older myths are the real ones."

"Precisely."

"What," Riya asked, "the hell are you guys talking about?"

Tina and I laughed. Just then, Iris went close to the phoenix, and patted its head, and said, "Alright Danny boy, its about time you did it again."

I looked at Tina, "Danny? The phoenix's name is Danny?"

"Yeah!" Tina sighed, "Lord Helios fancies the modern names, according to the Queen."

"She has met him?"

"Yeah! That's her uncle."

Right, I had forgotten that even our Queen was a demigod. Daughter of Eos, the goddess of dawn, sister of Helios. Anyway, Iris looked at the group in front of us, and said, "Avik, Riya, Jay, Abhro, and Hiya. Come forward."

We got out of the group and walked towards Iris. She looked at Danny the phoenix, and asked, "You know what to do, Danny boy."

Danny spread his wings, and flew. He swirled around the entire room, and picked up an Atlantium disc in his beak, and then, came flying over and sat on Dadai's shoulder. He dropped the disc in Dadai's hand, and then repeated this for all of us. I took a look at the disc, and saw a button. When we looked bluntly at Iris, she said, "Wear them." This was followed by another blunt look. Tina sighed, took the disc out of my hand, put it on my chest, and pressed the button. In a couple of seconds, I was draped in full body armor. Everything except for my head and neck were covered. "Cool!" I said.

My cousins repeated the action. Soon, they were all covered in full body Atlantium armor. Iris looked at us in a pleasant way, grinned, and said, "Keep wearing them. And draw your weapons."

This armor was so comfortable, that I, despite wearing the shirt and pants inside, didn't feel hot. I could even put my hands in my pocket. I took my knife out, and stood where I was. My brothers also took out their swords. Riya took out her trident, between some oohs. Hiya was already holding her bow, with her quiver on her back. This time, Iris stepped back, and Tina came forward. She looked at Danny and said, "Lead on, Danny."

Danny flew again, and landed on one corner of the podium surface. Tina put her hand on the table and brought out a belt similar to hers. All the five of us were given a belt each, which we were made to wear and to which, our weapons were stuck. Then, Tina provided us with the belt buckle. "This" she said, "is your divine identity."

I looked at Tina's belt buckle carefully. That's right. Now that I paid my full attention to it, I could see the belt buckle in the shape of crossed spears, symbol of Ares. Dadai was called first and provided a heart shaped belt buckle. So was Abhro. Riya was handed a conch shell belt buckle. So was Hiya. I was the odd one out. I was handed a fire-torch belt buckle. The buckle was magnetic, and it stuck to the belt as I brought it close. 

Lastly, we were provided with war helmets. This part of the ceremony was presided by the Queen. We were supposed to walk towards us, kneel in front of the Queen, she would put our helmet on our head, and we were supposed to walk back.

The war helmets were similar to the ones that the Spartans used to wear in the ancient times, with just a little bit of modifications. They were made of Atlantium of course. They had slits for the eyes and mouth. A large curved projection was covering the nape of the neck. They had plumes on top. Those were the only things that differed one helmet from another. My helmet plume was brown. Dadai's and Abhro's were pink, while Riya's and Hiya's were sea green coloured.

Now, Iris said, "A demigod is not complete until he/she has taken an oath. So, back to the hearth."

Danny the phoenix took this moment to fly all around the chamber, and then, out of the window, squeaking. 

We returned to the throne room. I had taken a moment to ask Tina, "What do the mortals see when they see Danny?"

"They see him as he is." she had answered, "The mortals here know about everything, and they see everything. Plus, there are so many supernatural creatures in Atlantis, they are bound to see."

I felt a jolt inside, a surge of excitement to see these creatures with my own eyes.

Anyway, once we were in front of the hearth, Iris asked us to repeat after her. We nodded. Iris said, "I, a Greek demigod, swear on the River Styx, that I will face my fate bravely, never be afraid, and will protect my fellow demigods whenever I can." We repeated the line, and were cheered with a huge round of applause. After that, the Queen said, "Finally, the ceremony has ended. You five are a part of Tina's demigod army. Go, get freshened up, change. Then, report to the dining hall for lunch."

At lunch, Dadai had asked Tina about training. Tina said, "Tomorrow morning, eight am." Nice, I had to wake up earlier if I had to continue my yoga from now on.