ATN: THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY

THE APHRODITE TALK

We sat on a beautiful sofa, with golden handles in the drawing room. The room would have been very beautiful if it had the proper lights, but today, it looked dull. The decorations made of gold, the curtains, were all so dull and gloomy, and beside us sat a goddess who was supposed to be the most beautiful female in the world. An Aphrodite who I couldn't match with the one I had heard of.

Anyway, though things were weird, with the ugly version of Aphrodite, Dadai being super angry at her, and the little bit of a family reunion, we sat down to know how on earth Aphrodite got to look this bad. You just can't lose your beauty in a day or two after living as a pretty woman for five thousand years. Something must have happened. "Alright, goddess of love, tell us what went wrong?" I asked. The milk and cookies had been served on silver goblets and trays, and were absolutely delicious.

Aphrodite chuckled, and said, "The gigantes are rising. Thank Olympus, however, their mother is still asleep. Periboea, the giantess of hate, has put this enchantment on me. She manipulates the feeling of hate. Her magic is not something I can just brush of. Her and my destinies are matched from the days of the first Gigantomachy. Children, I am afraid that the day of the second one is not very far."

"How much time do we have?" Dadai asked.

"I don't know. The smaller ones have started rising. The greater giants like Porphyrion, Polybotis, or Alcyoneus aren't out of Tartarus yet. They need to climb back from the dark pit. It takes time."

"But why, Aunt Aphria, do they want to fight again?" Riya asked.

"To avenge the defeat in the first war." Aphrodite answered.

"So, what do we do?" I asked.

"Get my beauty back, for now, so that I can shove that Periboea back to Tartarus, with your help, of course."

"Why can't you get your beauty on your own?" Dadai asked.

"I wouldn't have asked you to do that. But I can't go out with this look of mine. I won't have any respect left."

"Typical." Dadai said.

"Son, please, try to understand, I..."

"No, I don't want to."

"Okay, time out." I intervened, "Dadai, its for our good. Lets get Aunt Aphria her beauty back, so that she gets over her insecurities that she is all about beauty, and helps us save Atlantis. Now, how do we get her beauty back?"

"Jay, honey, I am not insecure. I know I am not the greatest of persons. I am selfish, manipulative, and as some say, cunning." Aphrodite said.

"Yes." Dadai said, "That's why you look like this. I think Periboea did her magic, she wanted to show how you would look if it was based on your inside."

"Dadai," Abhro said, "calm down. That's our Mom."

"No, let him take it out." Aphrodite said.

"Oh, yeah? Then, here goes. I believe you never loved my father. He was another time pass of yours."

"Honey, you don't know. At first, he was like that to me, just a mortal. But soon, I saw how strong he was. Believe me, nineteen years ago, I even got married to him. I broke up with Ares, just for him. I loved him like I never loved any human I was with before. That's why, you two are special to me. Yes, when Kronos tried to rise again and destroy the world, I had to return. All this to save you guys. I am never very good at goodbyes, so I left a note. I should have explained everything to him. I feel bad for that. I came back, and moved on. I am not proud of this at all. But I am not insecure. I am a bad mother, but I know myself. But around me, everything is about my beauty. My name, my respect, my relations, are all for my beauty. I was married to Hephaestus just because Hera was trying to prevent a war for my beauty. I was handed to Hephaestus right after I arrived at Olympus. My wishes didn't matter."

Dadai kept quiet. He too, was seeing logic in Aphrodite's words. But this wasn't our concern for the time being. So, I asked, "My Lady, how do we get your beauty back?"

"I don't know if you will be willing to go when you know the place."

"What's the place?" Hiya asked.

"The realm of Hades. The underworld. Its August's end. Which means, Persephone will be back from Olympus. Its now her time to live in the underworld for six months. She makes an ointment that will make me my old self in a matter of an hour."

"By Zeus's beard, the underworld? So, we go among ghosts?" Dadai asked, "Do you know how dangerous that is?"

"Nothing will happen to you. I promise."

"We'll go, my Lady." I said, "Anything to save the Great Land."

"Be brave, children, you'll be okay. You can do anything when you are together."

We left Aphrodite's palace with a mission at our hands: go to Hades's death domain, and talk to his wife. Get her to give the beauty ointment for Aphrodite. I remembered how she had tried to trick Aphrodite when the last time someone went to get that. That someone was Psyche, Aphrodite's most famous daughter in law, goddess of the soul's purity. I was tensed, but I knew that if the five of us were going, we would be successful. I trusted my cousins that much. 

We found out the portal of Iris easily enough, and used it. We landed in the Atlantean palace's throne room a second later.