ATN: THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY

THE DIVINE BAR, AND THE OINTMENT

"Don't think for one second that just because you made logic out of Eros's words, you are smart." Riya said to me, "You're still an idiot."

"Thanks, sister." I said. Riya would never change. I hope she stayed the same, always.

We entered the divine bar, with Zephyrus letting us in. The old guard outside said we were underage. Zephyrus bid us goodbye and flew away, flapping his wings. The inside was like just another bar we saw in movies. Dim lights, music playing in a low volume though. People were dancing inside. In the dim lights, we figured out that these were not people. These were the half-goats, the satyrs. But the women were weird. They had leaves coming out of their bodies. "Dryads." Tina told us, "The satyrs and dryads hang out together, always."

We made our way through the counter. Dadai approached the dryad bartender. "Show me some ID." A typical bartender question. 

"We just need water, nothing else." I said.

"ID first." The bartender said. She had the palest skin tone possible. Her hair was green, and there were leaves coming out of her shoulders, small spike-edged leaves. She had green eyes too. Her hair, however, had purple flowers. She wore a white Greek dress. Her eyes had a cold stare. "ID, come on."

"We don't have an ID." Dadai said.

"Alright, then. Cult-comps!" She called. The rest of the satyrs and dryads looked at her. "Cathy the catnip dryad speaks." Some said. Cathy raised her voice and said, "We have intruders who don't have ID. These underage people can't drink. They will ruin our party mood."

"KILL!!!!" One of the dryads shouted.

"Look, we just need water, nothing else." Riya said. But no effect. The Cult-comps got up, and surrounded us. So, Tina drew her sword out, and my brothers did the same. Riya got her trident out, and Hiya tied an arrow to her bow. I started thinking of some spell that could help. But Dadai struck the first blow, "Stand down!" The satyrs and the dryads stopped. Dadai had used his compelling power. But that didn't last long. Cathy the catnip soon shouted, "He's using compelling. KILL!!!"

"They just need water, you morons." A voice said, as a young couple and two big cats entered the bar. The Cult-comps stopped, and kneeled in front of the couple. 

The man waved his fingers to make the light brighter. Now, in the bright light, I could see the new people well. The man looked about in his late twenties. He wore a purple coat, and black pants. The coat had a little bunch of green grapes hanging from a pocket. He had purplish eyes, a little long brown hair, and a clean shaved face. The woman, however, wore a long dress, something similar to what Hera was wearing in the garden of Hesperides, except that it was green. She had hazelnut coloured hair, and black eyes. Both of them had an olive skin tone. I had guessed who they could be, but the two cats made me absolutely sure.

Both were leopards, not just cats. They bared their fangs while looking at us. One of them were normal skinned, with dark spots on yellow skin. The other one, however, was black skinned, the melanistic form of leopards. The man came ahead and said to us, "Hi, Chatterjees, and Roy. I am Dionysus. This is Ariadne, and these are our Frozen couple. The yellow one is Anna and the black one is Kristoff." Nice, the god of wine named his leopards after a couple from my favorite Disney movie.

"Hello, Lord Dionysus. Nice to meet you." Tina said.

"Cathy, get them some water. And if I ever find you rousing the Cult again, I'll skin you alive." Dionysus said.

"I'm sorry, my Lord."

Our stay in the divine bar was short. We drank water, Abhro drank lots of it, Dionysus asked us to visit Olympus if we lived through the fight, for the council might need to have a word with us. That's big, right? I know!

We came out, and contacted Iris to open a portal back. Within a couple of seconds, the portal appeared. We jumped through and landed on the training ground of Atlantis.

Iris was standing right there, alone. She asked, "Did you get it?"

"No," I said, "but we will soon." And I told Iris the plan.

"Wow!" Iris exclaimed, proudly, "You are smart. Now come on, then. I have the box in which Persephone made the ointment."

"How did she make it without the last element?" Riya asked.

"She said that the essence is just added to the ointment after preparing it. It is the most vital since without it, the ointment won't work."

"Good." I said, "You sure this is the ointment? Last time she sent something else for the ointment, and the poor Psyche died."

"She died of her own curiosity. Anyway, Persephone swore on Styx."

"Brilliant." I said, "Now Abhro, your work."

"Jay da, give me your knife." Abhro said.

I pulled out my knife from my pocket, and handed it to him. Iris opened the wooden box, with a lot of gems on it. The ointment was the same colour as Ariadne's hair. "Remember, Abhro. Just one drop. Or else, everything is destroyed."

The pressure! I could see it clearly on Abhro's face. His hands shook. I gestured Tina to help him. Tina took the knife from Abhro's hand, held his hand over the box, and gave it a small nudge with the knife. Abhro whimpered a little. A drop of blood fell on the ointment, and Abhro removed his hand. The ointment's colour changed from hazelnut to purplish red. "Done!" Iris said, "Now, to take it to Aphrodite."

Suddenly, we heard strangely attractive musical sounds. They were so beautiful, yet Iris's face had lost its colour. "No, no. Gods of Olympus!" She screamed, "Call of the wild."

"What?" Hiya asked.

"The call of the wild." Tina said, her face the same as Iris's. She went on, "The satyrs in the forests are giving us the message by playing their pipes to indicate that the giants and their army are here."

"WHAT?" I asked. For the next few seconds, no one spoke. But the sound of people walking could be heard. Perhaps the mortal army were getting ready to fight. The demigods were also preparing. I saw Rahul set up machine gun on one of the towers. "I gotta stay here, lead the troops." Tina said to me, "You guys go. Get this to Aphrodite." She handed me the box. I nodded, as Iris opened us another portal. I looked back at Tina and said, "Don't die till we come back." Tina nodded. "We'll buy you time. Get going. This portal will remain open." Iris said.

"But Mom?"

"She must have felt this already. She'll be here any minute. Go."

And the five of us jumped through the portal and landed in front of Aphrodite's palace.