ATN: THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY

THE SIBLINGS SHOW UP

The two children of the sea rose from the sea itself. I told you before that Atlantis is an island on the Atlantic Ocean. There is a beach right next to the palace. But I don't go there much because I am not exactly fond of the ocean. But Hiya does spend a lot of time there, even now. Riya does that too. So does Rhian.

Anyway, I had to pinch myself to believe what I was seeing. The sea was all quiet otherwise, but out came two huge waves, and standing on them, yes, standing on them, were the son of Poseidon and my little sister. They had their hands stretched and their weapons hung at their backs. They were controlling the waves. And then, to our further shock, Riya made her entry to the plan. She ran towards the waves, and let out two huge gasps at both of them. It was as if a cyclone started inside the two waves, and through that, the whole ocean near the beach. Huge waves started lashing on the Royal Area. But the three sea-demigods were making sure that the ocean took only the undead. And within minutes, while we stood like statues, the whole area was free of undeads. Or so I thought. One lucky undead sneaked behind Riya's back. She did not have her helmet on, and the creature was going straight for her neck. And before I could utter a spell, from out of the blue (literal blue, out of the waves) came the savior in the form of Viraj. He pulled Riya away. He attacked the undead, held it by its neck, and ripped it off, turning the undead into smoke. I got Bollywood flashbacks seeing that.

"You..." Riya uttered, still in shock.

"Saved you." Viraj said.

"Yeah, I..." Riya started, but was interrupted by more hissing noises and...

ENTER THE BIG PEOPLE!

For what I saw, I couldn't believe. There were more undeads, that's for sure, but there were their leaders too. They appeared behind the undead, right at the last. Two literal giants. One was a guy who was dark skinned, muscular, wore a long black cloak and a loincloth, was bald, and had human legs with snake scales. He had a bronze scimitar in his hand. That was my mother's bane, the anti-magic, Clytius.

The one beside him was a giantess. She too had scaled human legs just like her brother. For all I knew, she was the only female gigante. She had long raspberry coloured hair, olive skin tone full of scars, a stout body, and she wore a typical ancient Greek battle armor, minus the helmet. She, too, had a bronze scimitar in her hand. This was Periboea, the hate-mistress, the anti-Aphrodite. The two giants were twenty feet tall. 

Clytius was the first to speak, "That's all you got?" I looked around. Many of the mortal army had fallen. I couldn't even see a few demigods. Trent, Rhian, Nadia, Rahul, Viraj, Tina, wait. Where was Juan? A chill ran down my spine. Atlantis had lost many of its defenders, and now I couldn't find Juan. And this cloaked overgrown idiot asked us if that was all we got. Anger flowed through me, but before I could say anything, a familiar voice spoke behind me, "No, Clytius, they have me too."

I turned, my anger turned into relief. "Mom!" I said. "Sorry, Jay." She said, "I'm a little late." Mom looked just as I had seen her the last time. Except for her dress. Today, she wore a crimson long dress. "Oohoo!" Clytius laughed, "Come, witch goddess. So, this is your heir." He pointed at me, "This broken mortal! Don't worry. I'll destroy you in front of your son, Hecate. Then, I'll stomp him under my foot."

"Come on, Clytius." I said, "You were brutally destroyed the last time. What makes you think you'll win this time?"

"Try me, mortal." he said.

And so, another set of war began. Tina, my sisters, Iris and the rest of the demigods attacked the undead, Dadai and Abhro fought Periboea by the beach, Rahul, Nadia and the Queen operated from the towers, while I and Mom attacked Clytius.

The giant definitely was too strong for me, but he could even overwhelm my mother. My mother, the goddess of magic herself. None of her spells worked. None of mine worked either. Even my favorite shaking spell couldn't unbalance him. All that work was the shield spell, for whenever Clytius attacked us with his scimitar, we kept blocking it. Then, Clytius stomped his feet, and I lost my balance. "None of your puny magic tricks work on me, mortal." he said, "Oh Hecate, did you learn nothing of our previous meeting?"

"I have, Clytius." Mom said, "I am not a monster. I do learn." She spoke some spell in ancient Greek, and conjured up a big piece of wood on her hand. Clytius stopped in his tracks, as Mom brought the wood towards me, and said, "Complete this." I put my wand out, and said, "Fotia!", the fire summoning spell (Fotia is the exact translation of 'fire' in modern Greek). A flame of fire started burning the wood. Mom whispered to me, "I burn, you kill." I nodded. 

I looked around. The undead were almost down. And our demigod army was all safe and sound. But I had no idea where Juan was. My brothers were still fighting Periboea, with her scimitar locked to both their swords. Clytius, however, had frozen to the spot. I figured that fire was his weakness. Mom confirmed that soon enough, saying, "The last time, I had Heracles. This time, I have my son, who is extra motivated to fight by my side. You can never think of winning when a mother and son unite. There is no greater power. Last time, I burned your cloak by my torch. Then, Heracles finished the job. Come on, Clytius. Try and attack now."

All Clytius could do was raise his scimitar, when Mom threw the burning torch on the giant. He tried to deflect it, but was too slow. His cloak caught fire, and feeling the burn, Clytius removed the cloak. "He is anti-magic no more!" Mom shouted, "Finish him, my son." 

That was easier said than done. Clytius still held a scimitar. But with a mother like the goddess of magic, nothing seemed difficult. Mom moved her hand and said, "Apolitho!", the petrifying spell. Clytius literally froze. All he could do was move his eyes, and breathe. I pointed my wand at him, and shouted, "Aposyntheto!" Clytius disintegrated into thousands of pieces, each of which, then, turned into purple smoke and blew away.

"NO!" Periboea screamed, her face full of shock. "Zeus's beard!" Hecate laughed, "She thought he would win." Periboea said, "My brother is dead! Puny mortals! Filthy gods. You killed my brother." The hate was clear on her face. I had never seen this much hate on anyone's face. And I was hated by many people, back when I was in school. So I knew the level of hate on people's face. Periboea still went on, "You made me mourn my brother, again!"

"Well, if you hate that so much," Another familiar voice spoke, "Lets free you from that."

I turned and what I saw was absolutely breathtaking.

Standing there, facing Periboea, was definitely, the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life.