ATN: THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY

FINALLY, THE TRUTH

Our parents looked at us, at all of us. They had an apologizing look on their face. Aunt Kia sat to the right of Queen Anastasia, wearing a black sleeveless gown. She had her spectacles on, over her brown eyes. Her long black hair was tied into a bun. To her right, sat Uncle Sankalp. He wore a business suit. He was definitely still healthy. He had short hair, black eyes, and a french cut beard. To the Queen's left, my Dad sat in the seat next to the violet gowned woman. He was the one who spoke first.

"Kids, I know you are confused, but this is important. You got to know who you are."

"What?" I said, "I know who I am. We all know who we are."

"Do you?" the violet gowned woman asked. She had a very pleasant smile on her face.

"I am his son." I pointed towards Dad, "And I am a student..."

"Yeah, yeah. But what about your powers? How do you all have that?"

This caught me off guard. I looked at my cousins, they all looked confused. I looked at Tina, who gave me a look of 'Don't worry'. I looked back at the woman, and said, "That, I don't know."

Dadai took a step towards Uncle Sankalp, and said, "What's going on?"

"You'll know, son. For now, just address to them." Uncle Sankalp pointed to the two women.

Now, finally, the Queen spoke. She looked at us with piercing eyes, and said, "Children! Welcome to Atlantis. I am Queen Anastasia, and I know that you are confused. You guys had been told that you were coming here to have fun." She looked at Dad, "Which was a bad lie. But, don't worry. You'll be safe here, once the discussion is over."

I looked at Tina again. She gave me another look, that said, 'Been there.'

The Queen looked at the violet gowned woman, and said, "My Lady, guide us."

Why would a Queen call someone 'My Lady', I had no idea. The woman got up from her seat, and walked to us, saying, "Children, you have your powers because of your other parents. You have inherited some of their powers."

Riya took a look at her mother, and said, "Mom! What's she saying?"

Aunt Kia said, "What she is saying is, your and Hiya's father, Jay's mother, and Avik and Abhro's mother weren't humans."

"WHAT??" We all screamed, in unison.

"That's right." said the woman, "They were all gods. Ancient Greek gods."

It was as if lightning struck the room. None of us said a word. I thought this must have been a dream. I pinched myself and found out I was awake. The woman gave me another pleasant smile. After three long minutes of silence, Dadai spoke first.

"So, that means we are..."

"Demigods." I said.

"But that's impossible. The gods don't exist anymore, right?"

"You are standing right in front of one, son." Uncle Sankalp said, pointing to the violet gowned woman. We looked at her, shell shocked. I couldn't speak. This was all a little too much to take in. The woman smiled again, and said, "Children, I am Iris, goddess of rainbows, and the greatest source of transport in Atlantis."

"But, demigods?" Riya asked, "That can't be real, right?"

Iris moved her hands and created a rainbow, and then made it disappear.

"This is all real. Oh God! This is all real!" Riya's voice shook. It was too much for her to take. But slowly, I was grasping this reality. My Mom was Greek, wasn't she? I was once told by a kid, "Your Mom looks like a goddess." But other than these, and the book, I had no more proof. However, if this was real, I had to face it. I stepped up, and brought out the book from my backpack. "I think this was my Mom's. If she is a goddess, she is definitely alive. Please, tell me who she is, Dad." I asked.

"I cannot tell you, Jay. None of the mortal parents can disclose their divine consort's name to their demigod children. If I try, I won't be able to speak her name out."

"Don't worry, I got you." Iris said, and started moving her hands. She created a small rainbow, and asked me to put my hands through it. I did. As I touched the rainbow, a cool, pleasant breeze flew through me. Then, I touched something metallic, something round, small. I got hold of that, and pulled out my hands. I looked at the metallic small round thing I had pulled out. It was a locket, the one exactly like the one my Mom wore in that photo: a fire-torch. For the last ten minutes, ever since I had known my Mom was a goddess, I kept thinking, 'What goddess will have a book of magic?' Now, having seen the locket, the answer came to my mouth pretty easily.

"Hecate! My Mom is the goddess of sorcery!"

"Very good." Iris said, "You know stuff." She turned towards Abhro, "Now, Abhro, your turn."

Abhro put his hands in the rainbow. But I could not pay attention to that. My mind moved around the fact that my Mom, who I had loved despite having never met her, was a goddess, a goddess of magic at that. I figured out that the woman she helped once must have been Demeter, and the girl who was kidnapped must have been Persephone, kidnapped by Hades. "My Mom is Hecate!" I said to myself. Suddenly, I heard Abhro say, "Heart signs, two!"

Dadai took one, and said in a loud and shocked tone, "Aphrodite! Abhro, our Mom is the goddess of love!"

"And a member of the Olympian Council." Iris said.

"APHRODITE! Oh gods, our Mom is Aphrodite." Dadai had his hands on his face. He clearly seemed excited. But excited as in happy, or unhappy, I didn't know. Because, Aphrodite, my aunt, is a weird character. She is proud, yet nice. She is calm, but gets very angry at non beautiful things, or even when she is compared with someone pretty. The way she cheated on her husband, Hephaestus, lord of the forges, or even the way she almost destroyed the life of her daughter-in-law, was another proof. But then again, she had done some good too. She had made the vicious Atlanta fall for a man who truly loved her. She had been an awesome goddess to so many humans' love lives that I couldn't exactly hate her, while I read about her.

Finally, Iris moved towards Hiya, "Your turn, little one. I believe both of your father is a sea god. Let's see."

Hiya put her hands inside, and pulled out a conch shell sign locket. Alright, I knew the fire torch, the heart sign, and many more. But the conch shell? Whose sign was that?

"Triton!" Iris said, "You, girls, are daughters of Triton, god of sea waves, son of Poseidon and Amphitrite."

Alright, I had spent a month studying Greek mythology, but had heard of Triton only once, that our Uncle Tris had once wrestled Hercules.

"Are our deductions correct?" I asked our family.

"Yes, absolutely." Dad said.

"But you aren't the only demigods in town." Iris said, "Your Queen herself is a demigod."

Queen Anastasia smiled shyly, and said, "I don't know. My mother is a goddess, as well as a Titan."

"So is mine, right?" I asked.

"Yes. But Hecate is a third generation Titaness, which means she is basically a goddess. My mother is a second generation Titaness."

"Who is she?"

"Eos, goddess of dawn." I figured out the reason of her reddish skin from there.

"Moreover, Tina here," said Iris, "is also a demigod."

"Daughter of Ares, god of war." Tina spoke for the first time since we entered the hall, "And I am nothing like him."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, child." Iris said, "You both are awesome warriors, and are definitely good looking."

"Yeah!" I told myself. Tina was really very beautiful. Hold on, why was I thinking this? I had just met her. We hadn't even had a proper conversation yet. I had just found out my Mom is a goddess. This was not the time for these thoughts.

"Now, there is a lot of stuff going on. You'll have your receiving ceremony, and..." Iris said.

"But that, my Lady, could be a discussion for tomorrow. The kids are tired, and have been given a shock. They should rest." The Queen said, interrupting the goddess.

"Yes, absolutely."

As the meeting concluded, our parents took us to an Atlantean restaurant. "We all need to talk." Dad said to all of us.