ATN: THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY

ELEMENTS MIGHT BE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR

Both the deities sitting in front of me had wings. The god on the left had huge milk-white wings, like that of a dove. He was devilishly handsome, but yet, looked like a young boy, like perhaps, twenty. He had a perfectly ripped body. He wore a white T-shirt and black pants. He had a fair skin tone, jet black short hair, and valentine red eyes. I knew very well who he was. Just that, I too had the misconception of him being a small kid with a toy bow and love arrows, flying with little wings and shooting to make people fall in love. I turned to look at the others. They too seemed quite surprised that the god of love looked nothing like he was portrayed in the myths. A golden bow and two quiver full of arrows were kept by Eros's throne. One of them were full of golden arrows of love, while the other was full of copper arrows of hate. Those arrows had destroyed Apollo's life once.

The goddess on the other side had wings like butterflies, filled with white in the deeper sides, blue in the middle, and black in the outer sides. She also looked twenty, and was knockout gorgeous. Fair skin tone, dark brown hair, dark blue eyes, and she was wearing an orange Greek dress. This definitely was the goddess of the soul, who put people in right directions when they seemed to lose their way. She was Psyche, a woman who almost lost her husband for her curiosity, whose beauty became her bane, but still, finally, her love had won. Eros had threatened the entire Olympian council if she wasn't turned into a god. I respected her for what she had done to get Eros. What she had gone through was amazing. But still, something told me that we won't be getting what we had wanted from her.

Psyche looked at us intently, and said, "Hello, demigods of Ares, Hecate, Triton and Mother-in-law."

"Hi!" we all said in unison.

"Tell me. To what do I get a visit from you?"

I looked at Eros. He gave me a look of, "She's the boss. I have no say." I looked back at Psyche and tried buttering, "Firstly, I am a huge fan."

"Appreciated." Psyche said.

"Secondly," Dadai said, "We need to fix my Mom." 

"Hello," Eros spoke for the first time, "brothers. And sister." He addressed Tina at the last one, and went on, "We know why you are here. We also know what Psyche can do to help. But know this, I can't influence her decision. I'll just be here to make up the numbers."

Crud! This is what I was expecting from Eros. He and Psyche had gone through so much that they were basically free to make their own decisions, and the other would support that. I sensed a relationship healthier than even Hadephone (Yeah! That's what Iris calls our Mr. and Mrs. Underworld), though I was no relationship expert, like my brothers.

"Now," Psyche said, "The last element of beauty. The essence of forgiveness."

"Yes!" Riya said, "Will you give it to us?"

"And how will I give it to you? I don't even have that."

"I suppose its your golden blood that is the essence." Riya said.

"Precisely. The essence is the blood of an entity, god or mortal, who has forgiven Aphrodite for all the misdeeds she has done to him/her."

"Yes." Abhro said, "Can you forgive Mom for all she has done to you?"

"Oh, Abhro!" Psyche said, "I really wish you asked me for anything else. You six are doing a great work, trying to save your home. I am very impressed."

"Lady Psyche, please. This is the last element, and without it, the ointment can't be brewed." Tina said.

"I get it, Tina. I really do. I want to help you."

"Then why won't you?" Hiya asked.

"Because little Hiya," Psyche turned to her, "you'll never understand what I had gone through because of her. My only fault was to be born beautiful. The people of my kingdom made me her enemy. She made me work like a slave. She wanted to me to fall in love with some vicious monster. Thanks to my husband, I fell in love with him. Thank Olympus. She won't let me meet him. She would make me do chores that were impossible for a human. Getting water from that region of Styx that flows outside the underworld. Can you believe that? That place is on a super high mountain. In the end, I got stuck in between her quarrel with Persephone. Speaking of that, how did she agree to make the ointment?"

"She cares for Atlantis." Dadai said, "Please, goddess. All you have to do is say, 'I forgive Aphrodite.'"

"Oh Avik, only if it were that easy." Psyche was on the verge of tears. I could see she genuinely felt sorry. She wanted to help, but something had stopped her. The years of pain and suffering, can't be forgotten so easily, even if it happened thousands of years ago. Psyche went on, "If it was just all about saying, I would do it. Actually I had done it already. After I became immortal, we had mutually made up. Nowadays, if we meet, we will exchange words and gifts like normal people. But inside, I know very well that she has never forgiven me for stealing her followers and turning her eldest son against her. But I never intended to do any of that. Similarly, I can't forgive her from the inside. The ichor turns into the essence only when you mean it."

"But..." Abhro started, but Psyche interrupted, "Sorry, children. Please don't push me. We are done here."

And so, she flapped her wings, and left the throne room. Eros was still sitting. He got up, and came to us. He said, "Psyche is a little soft about that subject. Listen, don't lose hope. Sometimes, things are much closer to us than they appear. Keep that in mind." Then, he picked up his bow and quivers, flapped his wings, and left.

We stood there in the throne room. Though I had expected this, it was still a lot to take in. It was pre-evening. We still had one element left to get. And no idea how to get it now. Psyche didn't help. Even if we could get it, we would have to take it to Persephone, wait for her to make an ointment, deliver that to Aphrodite so that she could get out of her palace and fight the gigantes, who were about to attack the next day. I wished Eros could help. But all he did was utter some useless words and left. I thought about what he said. And then, it struck me.

"What did Eros say?" I asked, "That things are much closer to us sometimes than they appear?"

"Yes, but what..." Tina said, but I interrupted her. I had found a way to settle it. And there could still be time enough to settle this. "The blood turns into the essence only when someone means the forgiving part, right?"

"Yes, so?" Dadai asked.

"So, Psyche couldn't forgive Aphrodite. Neither could you, right?"

"Yes." Dadai said again.

"Guys, there is one person among us who has completely forgiven Aphrodite." I said, "And the rule says that the essence is the blood of an entity, god or mortal, who has forgiven Aphrodite for all the misdeeds she has done to him/her." I looked straight at Abhro. The others looked at him too. "Jay, you are a genius." Tina said, and gave me a hug. The first ever hug. I won't say I didn't like it. Just that, it got weird for a few seconds after that. But that got beaten out due to our excitement. Abhro kept saying, "I'll make Mom beautiful again."

We came out and met Zeph. He asked us about the element. We told him what we had planned. Iris trusted him, so we trusted him. He said, "Well, then, you would need to stay hydrated before you do that. Once the essence leaves your body, it makes you pass out."

"What do we do?" Dadai asked.

"We go down." Zephyrus said, "I land you in front of a bar. You drink some water, and then, come out." 

"Don't need that." I said, "We got water right he..." I remembered we hadn't even brought our backpacks. Just the weapons. Zephyrus looked at me as if he was waiting for me to say the next line. I said, "On second thought, that would be nice."

"Hop in, then. Lets go."

Zephyrus turned into air again, lifted us with his air arms, and brought us down just like he took us up. But this time, it wasn't in the middle of a green field. But in front of a small house with a glass gate, and a neon hoarding, 'The Divine Bar'.