ATN: THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY

THE GARDEN OF HESPERIDES

We were so much in surprise, and in joy, that we had not yet appreciated the beauty of the garden in front of us. We were still in shock that, how, oh how, did my stupidest, and the most childish plan to trick Atlas by saying something that sounded like Styx in a little low tone work. I still couldn't believe it. Neither could the girls. They were all in shock, but were laughing. And then, we saw the garden. We instantly stopped laughing.

Clearly, it was the most beautiful garden I had ever seen, as I mentioned earlier. Flowering plants made long rows across the gardens. There were tulips, daisies, lilies, hydrangea, daffodils, dahlias, orchids, and roses. Gods, I had never seen roses of so many colours: red, white, pink, yellow, and china roses, both red and yellow. There were other plants like rosemary, yarrow, nightshade, etc. How did I know so much? Riya knew a lot about plants. Remember how she wandered off in the forest? I kept asking her, she kept telling me. I looked around and found other trees and plants too, those of mangoes, strawberries, raspberries, bananas, and finally, we reached the center of the garden. And there it was, our reason for being here in North Africa, for fooling a titan. The tree of the golden apples.

The weather had miraculously gotten much better ever since we entered the garden. But now, seeing the tree and the guy sleeping beside it, a chill ran down my spine. The one sleeping besides was a lizard. A giant lizard. A winged giant lizard. A winged giant lizard with a hundred heads. A winged giant lizard with a hundred heads that were twined around the tree's stem. It was a dragon definitely. And if I had read and heard correctly, this was Ladon. As he slept, venom dripped off his teeth, and there were so many teeth, that the falling venom had filled the whole place. Even going near the tree seemed fatal. The tree, in itself, was bigger than any apple tree I had seen. And from it's branches, hung the shiny golden apples. 

"What do we do now?" Riya asked.

"Tina, what did you mean when you said you have your own way of bringing the apples down?" I asked.

Tina smiled, and removed her belt buckle from her belt. She took it close to her face, and said, "I pray to the god of war, Ares. But more importantly, I pray to my father. Dad, if I have ever made you smile, or feel happy, please hear my prayers and help me and my friends. Atlantis is my home, and I need to save it."

Riya put an arm around Tina as she stuck her belt buckle back to her belt. "It was about time." She said, "Now, back to business."

Suddenly, one of Ladon's two hundred eyes opened, and with that, the rest opened too. He woke up, untied his heads from the tree, and got up. He was almost twelve feet tall. He looked at us with two hundred eyes with pure malice, and roared. I had no idea that a lizard could roar, but when I heard, I felt like my head was spinning. But Ladon had seen us, and he was absolutely sure to kill us. He took a step forward, and tried to strike us with one of his heads. "Get back!" Tina said. We jumped back, and Ladon missed. 

Riya took her trident out, Tina unsheathed her sword. Ladon roared, Tina roared back. As Ladon struck her with his head, Tina swung her sword, and Ladon was left with ninety-nine heads. The other head just turned into yellowish smoke and disappeared. "That's not a hydra. Thank Triton!" Riya said. She had been reading a lot about our pantheon lately. Anyway, now it was her turn. She swung her trident and turned three Ladon heads into smoke.

By this time, I had taken out my book, and was looking for a charm, that would help me protect the girls. Finally, I found some. But, to master them, I needed to buy us some time, and I feared if I left it to the girls, they won't last long. And I could not afford to lose any one of them. So, I took out my wand, and pointed it towards Ladon, and said, "Seio!" The ground under Ladon shook. He lost his balance, and started falling. I chose this moment to practice the spells I had found. Firstly, I put my wand in my pocket, and uttered, "Aspida!" Miraculously, I felt some invisible magical shield on my hand. It went away after a couple of seconds, but I had mastered the shield spell in one go. I was getting good at spells. I would have jumped in joy, but I looked up, and Ladon was getting up. I uttered the next spell, "Cheirizomai!" Nothing happened. So much for getting good at spells. I practiced the spell again, while Tina and Riya tried to reduce Ladon's heads. Each time he attacked with his head, drops of venom fell across. "Jay!" Riya shouted, "A little help here!"

"Coming!" I said. Ladon was now clearly tired of attacking with his heads. So, he backed off, and did what dragons do best. He breathed fire. I had completely forgotten about his fire breathing abilities. He unleashed huge fire flames at the three us, and I reacted. "Aspida!" I said, and felt the same invisible shield on my hand. Though the girls flinched, they couldn't move, but the fire struck my shield, and disappeared. The girls looked at me with shock. But, Ladon was not wasting any time. Just as I was recovering from the spell, he came again with the numerous heads and those fire flames. Again, all I could do was react. My hands outstretched, I screamed, "Cheirizomai!" But the fire hit me.

Yes, it did hit me, but I felt no burning pain. All I felt was that I was absorbing the fire, my body temperature rising, which was making me lose energy second by second. I was feeling tired. I couldn't stand anymore. So, I kneeled. But I remembered one spell I had learnt in my room in Atlantis. It had almost taken all my energy when I had practiced it, and now, I was losing energy already. But, this was all I had, to protect my friends. I looked up, stretched my hands, and said, "Amolao!"

I felt the heat leave my body, and gather at my hands. And, then, all the fire I had absorbed from Ladon, rushed out of my hands, and hit Ladon. He took at least five steps back. With my remaining energy, I used my favorite spell again, "Seio!" The ground below Ladon shook, he lost his balance again, fell with a thud, and groaned with pain. I fell on the ground, with my energy level only enough to keep me from passing out. Riya tried to get me up. She had a cut on her forehead, but otherwise looked fine. Tina, too, had cuts on her face. She took out an ambrosia tablet, and fed me that. She and Riya took a sip of nectar from her bottle. The ambrosia started working instantly, and I felt my energy returning. I was feeling better. I got up, and checked if Ladon was getting up again. Nope, he was down and out. Out cold. "Now," I said, "getting an apple out of that tree."

"You are not getting anything." A woman's voice said from somewhere right of us. We turned, and saw two young women and a girl come out from behind the trees. The three stood in front of us, and frowned at us.