ATN: THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY

PERSEPHONE'S MISSION

Of all possible imaginations about the lord of the dead, I had never imagined Hades, the eldest son of Kronos, to look like this. Like anything, but not this. As a kid, I had seen Hades in a movie, with hair of blue fire, dark skin and a really evil mind. As I grew up, I got to know that Hades was no evil, and the movie makers made him evil for who knows why. Anyway, right in front me sat the real Hades, ten feet tall, and he was holding...a tab?

We looked at him in awe, all of us except for Tina. This was the first time we were seeing one of the Holy Trinity.

Hades had pale skin, as pale as the Furies. He looked to be in his late twenties, but I knew very well that he was in his late four-thousands. He had jet black short hair, black eyes and a clean shaved face. He wore a purple T-shirt that had 'Death for idiots' printed on it in white, and black trousers. He wore a golden pair of spectacles, and was very much concentrated on his tab. His pitchfork was rested to his throne. A war-helmet, perhaps, his Helm of Invisibility, was kept on the hand-rest. It took him some time to look away from his tab, and see us. When he did, he frowned, removed his spectacles, kept that and his tab aside, got up, reduced his size, and said, "Who the me are you?"

"Lord Hades! Its me." Tina said.

"Everyone is 'me'. Which 'me' are you?"

"I came here five years ago, to return that." Tina pointed at the pitchfork.

"Oh! Roy? Ares's girl?" Hades sounded excited, "You have grown up. But, who are these?"

And we introduced ourselves to the lord of the dead. After the intros, Hades looked at me and said, "So, that's what Hecate did when she said she would take a break."

"But Lord Hades, we need your help." Tina said.

"Yes, and fortunately, I am very happy today."

"Yes sire." I said, "The Queen has returned perhaps?"

"Yes, Chat..." His grin turned into confusion, "What do I call you, mortal? I can't call you 'mortal', that offends demigods nowadays, and I don't like offending demigods. I can't call you by your surname, as there are five of you with the same one."

"Jay would be nice, sire." I said, "You could call us by our names."

"Okay, Jay, tell me about the problems."

We described everything and left no information. The visions of Iris, our visit to Aphrodite, her strange ugly looks, the ointment, the rise of the gigantes, everything. Hades listened intently, and then, thought for a bit. "I don't think Zeus knows yet. Gotta inform him." he said.

"Would he believe?" Dadai asked.

"Not right away, but in time. But for now, wait for five minutes. Persephone will be done bathing, and then, we will have lunch. All of us. Talk to her after that."

Ten minutes later, we were sitting in the dining room, around a table for ten. The table was covered by a huge white sheet. Different dishes of food were kept on it. I could smell new delicacies in the dining room. Golden plates were placed inverted in front of every chair, with golden cutlery. The chairs were made of platinum. Hades sat in one end of the table. The chair to his left was empty. To his right, sat Tina. Hades had asked her to sit there, saying, "You, little one, got my pitchfork back. You'll sit next to me." I was sitting beside her, and next to me were Riya, Abhro, Dadai, and Hiya, respectively.

And then, the woman of the house arrived. Persephone looked very pretty, with her chocolate coloured hair tied into a bun, green eyes, and glazy tanned skin. She wore a green dress, and wrist bands with tulips. She had a kind, yet clever face. I figured she could be as big as we saw Hades in the first moment, but she was regular sized currently. She looked at us confusingly, and asked to her husband, "Honey, who are these kids?"