ATN: THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY

TINA CUTS A TAIL

We got past a few trees and heard a scream. It was definitely Riya's voice. Her scream sounded as if she had seen something very dangerous. I and Tina started running towards the voice. And finally, we found my sister.

Riya was down on the ground, trying to get away. In front of her, were two terrible looking beasts. They had human faces, baring their teeth. Those were similar to Actaeon's. They had long hair. No, that was mane, not hair. Their bodies were lion-like, with bat wings. And their tail, that looked like a scorpion's tail. Green toxic fluid was dripping from their ends. The two creatures had a vicious look on their manly faces. They were inching closer towards Riya. "Manticores!" Tina said.

"What?" I asked, "Whatever they are, lets fight them and get my sister back."

"That is not easy." Actaeon said, "They are venomous creatures. We need a plan. They can be chased away to the deep jungles from locality, but here, this is their domain." 

I didn't care what they were. All I cared was my that my sister's life was in danger. She was crying already. So, I started peeking into my mind, to remember the spells I had been learning from my book in the past two weeks. One came to my mind: the shaking spell. This could work. I put my hand up towards the beasts, and uttered, "Seio!" My hand glowed orange, and the ground under the manticores shook so vigorously, that the beasts toppled over one another. I turned and saw Tina looking at me with surprise. "What?" I asked, "I had been studying."

"They're down, attack!" Actaeon screamed. The six werewolves lashed on one of the manticores, while the other finally got up. The werewolves took the manticore out of our sight, as they slashed the creature with their claws. The other one bared its fangs towards us and attacked. And, I reacted. I flicked my fingers, and the manticore was thrown sideways. It hit a tree and fell on the ground. But it wasn't done. This time it attacked me straightaway, and I couldn't flick my finger on time. It jumped and got hold of me, and pinned me down the ground. Its claws sank in my shoulders. The burning pain made me scream a bit. The beast was trying bite the life out of me with its fangs. And I was trying to keep it from doing that. At that moment, no spells came into my mind. But luckily, the girls had got my back.

Riya had gotten her trident back from Tina. She came running, and stabbed the manticore with it on the chest from one side. Tina stabbed it viciously from the other side with her sword. I was trying to use my telekinesis to somehow get my knife out, but nothing. Then, the manticore roared, and moved its front paws violently, hitting the girls and throwing them on the ground. While Tina fell on a bush, Riya hit the same tree the manticore had hit a few minutes back, and collapsed, unmoved. "RIYA!!!" I screamed. And at that moment, my hands got loose, and the manticore got the upper hand. It was about it sink its fangs into my neck, when suddenly, it looked upwards, and groaned. I saw its scorpion tail on the ground, detached from its body. The beast turned to see who had cut its tail. I, too, tried to see the same. Tina was standing there, her sword marked with the venom of the tail. Her face was full of anger. I remembered a spell, now that the manticore was distracted. I uttered, "Metakino!" The manticore flew over and fell on the ground. When I got up, the beast turned into sand and blew away with the breeze. "Stay in Tartarus, beast." Tina said.

At that moment, I had no idea what she meant, but I thanked her, and we ran towards Riya. She was slowly regaining her consciousness. I was relieved that nothing happened to her. She opened her eyes, and said, "I think that's enough creature watching for today."

We were leaving when we saw Actaeon and his pack return. "Took us a bit of time to send it to Tartarus. Where's yours?" he asked.

"Tina sent it to where it belonged." I said, "She saved my life."

We returned to our room, and were soon taken to a Japanese demigod named Aya. Aya was a sister of Nadia, also being the daughter of Apollo, and had inherited her father's healing abilities. She had short black hair, black eyes, and a plump body type. She treated my wounds, and checked Riya. "Nothing to worry." She said, "She took a hit, but is fine."

"I just felt the cool breeze and got lost." Riya said that night after dinner, when I had gone to visit her, and found Tina already there. Apparently, Dadai, Abhro and Hiya had visited her before. Riya was saying, "I am sorry, guys."

"Don't be. Its alright, we are all safe. That's all that matters." Tina said.

"Riya." I said, "Rest. You gotta be ready for training tomorrow. Go to sleep."

"She could use an off-day, I guess." Tina said, "Riya, lay low tomorrow. You are already using the trident better than I use a spear."

Riya laughed, and laid down on her bed. I put the blanket on her, and left with Tina. As we came outside, I said, "Hey, Tina, tell me something."

"Yeah!" She said.

"When you said 'Stay in Tartarus', what did you mean?"

"Oh, Jay. You didn't know?"

"No. All this monster killing stuff is way too new for me."

"Alright. See, you know that the evil monsters all get to the dark pit of Tartarus right?"

"No."

"Well, they do. When the evil monsters die, they all go to Tartarus. While in the underworld, the souls get a choice to be born again, there are no choices for these beasts. They die, and after sometimes, they live again."

"As the same person?"

"The same one, in the same body. They reform. So, now, the manticore has been sent to Tartarus, to reform. We won't need to worry about it for a century at least."

"Well, thanks. Thanks for all of this. The info, the training, the making us feel at home, the saving my life."

"Hey, there's no thanks in friendship, is there?" Tina said, "Wouldn't you have done the same for me?"

"Yes, I would have."

"Alright. Goodnight, Jay."

"'Night, Tina."

That night, when I lay on my bed, I kept thinking how these gods had been living here for about five thousand years, and how these monsters have reformed from time to time. All these Greek Mythological things confused me, and so, I slept.