Ariel's blue eyes opened at the sky overhead. The trees above him hustled as their plentiful leaves and flowers moved with the breeze, the sky seemed blue and warm. A young man slowly came into his view, he was rubbing his hands together. He had a well-sculpted, yet soft face. His skin glistened pink and golden as if he were carved out of some precious gemstone. His rainbow-like, multicoloured eyes had deep blue hinges of kajal around them, with jet black eyelashes and deep brown eyebrows. His nose was of the perfect shape, well fitting to the rest of his face, and his lips, red as a poisoned apple, parted slightly apart to portray his pearly whites. His bright, golden hair lay gently to his shoulders, curled at the bottom to appear almost as some ornament of great value. He sat beside Ariel in a sheer, light orange tunic, bordered with rose gold lace and small pearls.
Ariel slowly got up to the voices of harps and the flowing water of a brook. Birds chirped around them, the grass beneath was warm and cosy, the smell of lavenders filled that enchanting forest and Ariel's feet were dipped into the cold waters of the gentle stream. He dug his knees into the flowers beneath him and looked at the crescent-eyed boy,
"Who are you?"
He got up and looked down at Ariel, while Ariel looked at him, wide-eyed. He rose his tunic above his feet and walked into the forest. It was dark, covered with the golden lights of fireflies and the fish swimming in the narrow stream running beneath him. He stepped through the water and Ariel followed him, "Where are you going?" Ariel traced his steps through the water, the sound of a waterfall, and the sweet scent of autumn fruits, it was intoxicating.
Finally, Ariel grabbed him by his arms and pulled him towards him, "Could you speak the languages I do? Or do you not understand my questions?"
"I can very much understand you, yes," Beauty replied and Ariel immediately recognised his voice, "...Nate?"
Beauty turned towards him and stood there in the water reaching till their ankles, their toes facing each other, Ariel was dressed in his armour, metallic, strong and godly, while Beauty stood in his tunic, which was alas, now half wet from his ankles, as Ariel's sudden grab made him lose his hold over the tunic, gentle, kindly, godly.
"Why do you look the way you do?" Ariel asked him, "And where have we come?"
"You have come here, I followed you," Beauty spoke.
"Followed me? You came for me? To the end of the world? Why?"
"I came for you..." He told him, "Because you are my brother. And I love you," He moved away and looked into his remarkable blue eyes. He pressed his face, "You are my best friend," Ariel looked at his hand and saw a red thread wrapped around Beauty's little fingers, falling down into the water, "What are you?"
He said nothing, just smiled subtly and turned back. They continued walking in the water until the forest was soon covered with hanging vines, and Ariel saw Jevelene lying on the grass of a meadow.
"Jevelene!" He ran towards her at once.
She turned to look at him and smiled, "Ariel!" She got up from the flowers and they held each other into their arms, "What are you doing here?"
"I do not know. I don't even know how I got here," She then looked at Beauty, standing behind Ariel, "And who is that?"
Ariel turned back, "Oh, you wouldn't believe it. That is-"
"I'm Beauty," Beauty bowed down to her, his red thread ending at her little finger, "The sixth of the twelve heavenly stars. And you, my lady, are my fated demigod,"
"Nataniel?" Ariel gasped, "What? WHAT?!" His mouth was wide open as he stood between both of them. Jevelene's eyes widened, "Nataniel...That's you?"
He smiled, "I believe I am," He pulled his charming hair behind his little ears, "So..." He got down on one knee and looked into Jevelene's eyes as he held her hand, "Would you form a contract with me?"
Their reflections fell upon the stream beside them and were witnessed by the forest and the flowers, as she nodded her head, and Beauty kissed her hand, "Name me, then," He looked into her eyes. Jevelene rolled her eyes to the sky, "What do I call you? Hmm... Nataniel's one fine name,"
He giggled and his name got engraved as a tattoo running down from his earlobe to his neck, his skin turned back to white and he began glowing, his hair turned black and he regained his icy blue eyes, he looked just the way he always did, Nataniel Jarvinen.
And they were back in heaven.
They stood before Beauty's abandoned castle, "Could you wait?"
Ariel and Jevelene nodded. He walked towards the castle and touched the railings that reached till the main entry gate, his eyes glowed, and all the dust and rust first turned to ice and then cleaned back to the water, which crawled beneath him and washed the floor from a dirt-covered brown to pastel pinks and bright goldens. The statues turned white, the fountains began running again, the gardens bloomed, the doors and windows opened, and dust flew out turning into an ice storm. Nataniel stood in the middle of the ice storm and directed it throughout the castle, everything turned back to life, all the frozen maidens turned back to live, the birds and the potted plants turned alive again and the clocks began moving. The dance halls turned bright and the cobwebs disappeared, the musical instruments gained life and turned to gold, the chandeliers, the carpets, the vases and the paintings, everything. Everything was beauty. Beauty was everything.
It was Beauty's tower,
And the castle of the Twelve Heavenly Stars.
He turned towards them, and they looked at him, "Actually, let us have a ball,"
And so, the castle was decorated. And all the gods gathered to celebrate Beauty's end of the curse. Everyone was dressed extravagantly, bathed in amber and flowers all over their hair. Their sheer tunics, and goblets of ambrosia, the life-giving liquid.
"Heaven finally seems at peace, only that most of the heavenly stars are missing. The gods still only know the whereabouts of Music, Love, Silence, Happiness and Beauty. What about the other seven?" Aphrodite muttered as she dressed before her mirror, tying a flowering vine around her long braid. Ariel stood in his armour, right behind. His brown hair was parted at the side and pinned down by a golden seashell. Phobos was brushing his long brown hair into a ponytail and getting ready for the ball.
"And what about hell?" Ariel asked her.
"We need those stars to face the demons lest they attacked again," Aphrodite pressed a stone under her eyes, "And more demigods. It is their duty, to protect heaven and the mortal world from demons."
"And what is yours? Or do gods not have any duties,"
"You shouldn't hate gods that much,"
"Why? Because my mother is one?"
"Because you are one, Ajax," She turned towards him, and they both reflected in the mirror, "Do you know who your mother was?"
"You mean father?"
"Your mother," Aphrodite looked straight into his eyes, "But we shouldn't talk about these serious matters at this moment of celebration,"
"If I was a god, why did you abandon me?" He ignored her and she, in turn, ignored him. She got up and her children rearranged her dress, "We must leave now,"
"Mother," Ajax got up but she was soon busy with everyone else who was tending to her. He was left behind with another brutal truth. Not only was he a god, but he was made of two women.
And it appalled him. For how could he call upon his manhood, when he had no father? Who to look up to? Two women? But he was not a woman. He refused to be a eunuch. Confused and slightly embarrassed, he went to the ball. As Nataniel hugged him to welcome him, he wondered if he had a father. Standing in a crowd of gods, he felt small and insignificant. His armour felt heavy and he felt terrible. He hated his body, he wanted to tear it open and just become a woman instead. But soon, he felt the crowd turn upwards and look at the demigod Beauty had formed a contract with. Ariel looked at her through the crowd.
Jevelene wore her old, red linen dress that Maks had given her about ten years back. The castle maidens had opened it for her, for she had grown in these years and the dress needed some modifications to fit into her again. She wore a golden necklace around her neck and tied her orange hair up in a bun, she walked down the stairs to the dance halls. Nataniel greeted her and as the tradition went, he introduced her to his siblings, she already knew Lict, Maks and Happiness. And she found Lobelia, "an enchanting little goose,", very charming.
She looked at Ariel through the crowd and walked toward him. He looked at her, and he felt that she almost saw through, how unmanly he was and maybe she deserved better. Not a god of lesbian love, not a man borne of two women. But she held his hand and smiled at him, "Aren't you forgetting to ask something?"
He looked into his eyes, "Do you still love me?"
She chuckled, "Of course I do,"
Everyone danced and they watched them dance. They stood in the silence of the music surrounding them. Jevelene smiled as she passed the golden water lily to him, and he took it between his fingers. She wrapped her arms around his arms and pressed her head on his shoulder. Watching her petite figure lean on him, made him feel big. It made him feel good, but as he realised it, he hated it.
He hated how he had to depend on a woman to feel like a man.
He hated how she had him around her fingers, he hated how she defined him.
His manhood.
"I love you, Ariel," She told him and he looked into her eyes, "I am a God,"
She was so taken aback that she left his arm and took a step back, purely out of astonishment. He continued looking into her eyes, "I am a God... Who does not belong in heaven,"
She sucked in air and she spoke next, "Why...Why would you believe so?"
"Because it is so, Jevelene," Ariel took a step away from her, as the halls grew louder, the dances faster, the passions of gods, and goddesses, the labour of stars, it all seemed to fade behind him, until there was nothing but him,
"I am not at peace."
Perhaps she read his mind, but as she looked at his eyes that evening, she held him by his hands, "Do not abandon me...Please,"
"I'm sorry,"
"Don't...Don't be sorry," She squeezed his palms, tighter, as if she would hold onto them forever, and for the first time, he watched her cry. The lights behind her frail body looked so bright and pretty, the gods howling and dancing, the ambrosia in the air, the drinks of different scents, the celebrations of them parting away. It almost felt eerie to leave her like that.
"What did I do so wrong?" She sobbed, "That I have to part from you?"
He shook his head, "It's not you, Jevelene. It's me, I-I-...I am not who I was. I am not who I thought I was. I feel...Like Ajax, not Ariel. I am not Ariel anymore,"
"Whatever is that supposed to mean?"
He wiped her tears as he believed that they weren't worth shedding for him, "That I am a God...And I don't want to be a god, I want you... But I can't have you,"
"Why can't you?" She asked him.
"Because I am not a man," Now, he wanted to cry, "I was made of two women,"
She smiled, "My love, why should that matter? I still love you-"
"Yes, but I don't love myself. It's not about you, Jevelene... I want to hurt you, to show myself that I have power over a woman, to show myself that I am a man. It's disgusting. I have to leave you...Because I can't hurt you. I love you so much...So, please let me go," At those last words, he almost dropped his voice to a whisper because if he was any louder, he knew he would break down crying. However still, a drop of tear rolled down his jaw, "Please,"
Nataniel walked down the stairs and whispered something in Lict's ear. Lict nodded and went out the door while Nataniel's gaze stopped at Jevelene, who stood at the flower balcony, alone and almost desolated like a poor farmer's land that has been waiting for rainfall and harvest. A barren land. He walked toward her and asked her if everything was alright, and she answered with a smile that she had been having the most wonderful time. Nataniel read her thoughts, and looked away from her, "So, he left,"
Lict moved across an array of curtains until he reached Vierne, who sat before her dressing mirror and examined her healed face. He lowered his eyes and bowed, "My lady, Beauty has sent an invitation for us, twice. Shall we?"
"Shall we what?" She asked him while glaring at her reflection, "Celebrate? I do not want to,"
Lict looked concerned and soon, she turned to him, "That demon...He had a contract to kill me,"
The world under Lict almost shifted away from his feet, "...Murder?"
"Yes," She looked into the mirror and held out her hand to a earthern mask, "Someone wants to bath in my blood and make marshes out of my bones," A castle maiden walked towards their room, with a red-sealed envelop pressed on a grey, ceramic plate.
"But who? And why?" Lict walked towards her as she got up from her chair and arranged her hair, "We shall investigate into it," She looked at him through her mask, "For the moment, we must make ourselves scarce to the mortal world," The castle maiden passed through the curtains and bowed. Lict picked up the envelope from the plate and tore open the seal. He took out a letter and read it swiftly. Vierne looked at him patiently, "Who is it from?"
Lict closed the letter, "Akagi,"
That was a surprise, for both of them, "What does it say?"
"He is about to have a child. A biological one. He wishes for our presence,"
She grinned grimly while Lict looked at her reflection as he read her thoughts. He sat down at a mirror table to write a response on a thin, coarse sheet of paper. With his fingers dipped in perfume, his brush moved stoically over the paper, "We will come,"
Vierne sat on the balcony while Lict wrote the responding letter, they read each other's thoughts across a room full of a gentle breeze and white curtains. She looked at the darkening sky and the sounds of the celebrations behind them, they almost sounded eerie. They almost sounded not divine. While falling across the realms, the mortal world harnessed the same sky. Akagi sat in the rose garden that now had red roses sprinkled with blue colour over them. It was about to rain but the thunder provided a sublime solace to him, as he waited for the prophecies. He held a pen and pencil in his hand and he wrote,
"The sun shines into a grey hue tonight,
The forests kiss the darkness of demonic lights
It's the realm of immortal mortality and moral plight
Frost covers my dead knuckles, solidarity and frightful eyes
Read letters of abandonment, of beauty of divine sights
Singing hymns of perishing demigods, or a jealous god's pride
Stars falling like raindrops, but this rain is full of you,
Sun steals midnight exhaust, oblivious that dawn decays me too."
Destructive chaos, immortality curses me as the universe corsets
Oh curse this girdling existence, my senses devolve to your dark silhouette,
Come haunt me, anything that takes away this immortal loneliness
Blue blood's overflowing goblets around slender fingers of death
"We are human, anything we touch, we ruin it," This is it!
O, what means to be everlastingly mortal than to walk with time and die with it.
For they only come when they would say; say veni, inquit, quia vocavi te"
The End