Prophecy of the Most Beautiful

by Jones, Diantha

  She spent the concert being the sole object of L.A’s attentions. It was like there wasn’t even twenty thousand other people there, just her, but she didn’t care. This was L.A., the rockstar extraordinaire of her wildest dreams. She wasn’t going to waste time contemplating why he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of her. And as was the inevitable, the music took her and before the show was over, she had thrown her arm around Ace's shoulder and was screaming the words at the top of her lungs.

  It all ended way too soon and she hated Ace for making her leave. She wanted to live in it for just a little while longer and not have to go back to worrying about what was going on. Nevertheless, she followed Ace back through the barricades, down the long backstage hallways, and back to an arena exit that announced its existence with a bright red "EXIT" sign.

  Ace paused before pushing the lever to go out.

  "Don't be scared, Chloe. Everythin's cool."

  She crossed her arms. "Usually when someone says that it means you should actually be terrified."

  "I was jus' tryna warn you, tha's all."

  "Warn me about what?" She was growing more impatient by the millisecond.

  Ace sighed. "He wants to meet you," He said, "Right now."

  *****

  VII. Chloe

  A Divinity's Stimuli's tour buses were in the back lot of the arena, and already, swarms of screaming fans were surrounding them. Security created a path for the two of them and they made their way towards the head bus. Chloe could barely breathe.

  This cannot be happening, she thought.

  But it was. The doors opened for them as soon as they approached and they climbed aboard.

  A Divinity's Stimuli's bus could hardly be considered a tour bus at all. It looked more like a temple of some kind, ancient and rich. It had gold tables, chairs, ottomans and fancy chaise lounges covered in lush fabrics of indigo and violet. The rich-colored tapestries edged with golden leaves of woven silk were draped grecian style across the walls. There were statues of people holding potted plants and a fountain with a woman bursting out of the torrent of water swirling at the base of her, making her look like she was half of a woman and half made of water. Four huge marble pillars seemed to be holding up the ceiling that was painted with a mosaic of the sun. The sun glowed and gave the room its lighting. But this all puzzled her. The room appeared to be way too big for the compartment of a bus. It was more the size of a chamber of some ancient temple or a room in a royal household. She chose to pretend she didn't notice. It was too mind boggling to handle.

  L.A. was reclined across one of the lounges with his guitar in front of him. She was kind of disappointed that he had put on a shirt, even though it was a white graphic tee that still displayed all of his beautiful muscles. He had let his dreads fall loose, but had swept the ones in the front back out of his face.

  "Next time, Euterpe," He was saying to his fellow guitarist who sat on the floor beside him, "I'll hit F# at that point in the song, and you hit A." Simultaneously, they struck the notes on their guitars and they came out in perfect harmony.

  Euterpe smiled. "That sounds real good, brother."

  They were related, another unexpected surprise for Chloe. She had never read that in any of the magazines.

  The cute keyboardist sat on the floor next to Euterpe with her head on L.A.'s knee and put down the bowl of grapes she was holding to clap at their playing.

  "You look like you're thinking hard about something over there, Chloe," Euterpe said with a smile.

  "She looks kind of clueless to me," said the drummer with the blue mohawk in a gruff tone. She was comfortable on a lounge, her bare feet propped up on a cushion.

  "Watch it, Mel," L.A. said, narrowing his eyes. Mel looked at him, dropped her eyes and gave a respectful nod. L.A. smiled at Chloe, then moved on to Ace, dropping the smile and giving him a stoney gaze. The boy stiffened.

  "My lord," Ace said, sounding important and leaning over into a small bow. When he looked at her, she mimicked his gesture, not understanding at all why she should.

  "Ace," L.A. greeted him with an insignificant nod of his head. He looked at Chloe again. "Enjoy the show?" The smile returned.

  "Uh…uh, yeah," She managed, coming out of her bow, "It was unbelievable." She couldn't even begin to describe how she really felt. Awed. Excited. Scared. Confused. Exhilarated.

  "Awesome. It would majorly suck if you hadn't." He gave her a golden smile that in a less stunned state of mind would have made her blush her socks off. But for now, all she could do was stare. "You can sit down, you know." He gestured at a couple of grecian ottomans covered in an expensive-looking mauve cloth and edged with gold braiding. After a little prompting from Ace, she flopped down on the one at the foot of L.A.'s lounge.

  "My name's Thaleia," said the blonde keyboardist. Her voice was soft and high-pitched. "Cute jeans, by the way."

  "Uh, thank you," Chloe replied. Thaleia nodded and smiled.

  "Euterpe's right," L.A. said, "You do look like you're thinking very hard about something. Care to share your thoughts?"

  She hesitated, then shook her head. It would be impossible for her to put her harried thoughts into words right then.

  With an eyebrow raised, he asked, "Are you afraid?"

  She shook her head again. "No…not really anyway…"

  He grinned. "There's no reason to be scared. I'd never hurt you. I only just found you. I just hope you prove to be of worth, Oracle."

  There goes that name again. She frowned. "What do you mean?"

  L.A. plucked a grape out of the bowl Thaleia held up for him. "What do you know about Greek myth, Chloe?" He gave her a beautiful reassuring smile.

  "Um, Greek myth, as in mythology?" It was an odd question. "I don't know much about it really. I had a Hercules pop-up book as a kid. I know there's a god named Zeus or something like that…"

  L.A. rolled his eyes. "Sure you do. Mortals always seem to have heard of Zeus before any other god," He said with an exasperated sigh. "It's like no one else even exists." Chloe stared at him and waited for him to say he was just joking or to flash her a playful smile to show he was kidding, but he did neither.

  "You're telling me Zeus is real?" She asked after a minute. Chloe tried to think back to any stories she might have remembered being told about Zeus or Greek mythology. All she came up with was Hercules. You're so lame for bringing up the pop-up book, Clever.

  L.A. shrugged. "Zeus is real. It's all real."

  She shook her head. "I don't get it."

  He sighed. "I'm sure." He began to explain after eating more grapes. "There are two worlds, Chloe. Your world and my world. They exist together but at the same time, they are separate. Your world is earthly; mine is heavenly." The rockstar paused, then laughed. She knew she must have looked very confused and disbelieving. "Sorry, Chloe. I know this is a lot to take in all at once. Maybe you would understand better if I showed you."

  "Everythin's cool," Ace said to her as he bit into a large apple he'd just picked up. Euterpe and Thaleia smiled and waved. Mel laughed and made the peace sign.

  L.A. plucked a string on his guitar, and everything, including Ace and the three Daughters, disappeared from around them, leaving them in the center of a cyclone of colors.

  It was the strangest thing she had ever experienced and she tried not to get sick. She felt like her world had just turned upside down. She held her breath as the room swirled around them at lightning speed. L.A. remained in her clear line of vision and she wondered how that could be when everything else was such a blur. She felt around in the chaos for something, anything that might help balance her senses again but found nothing. It felt like being on a merry-go-round going one hundred miles per hour or a roller coaster that had lost its grip on the track and was now hurdling all of its riders through the air, untamed. She blinked, hoping it was just her unstable mind playing tricks on her, but several blinks later, the world still swirled around her. But then, after what seemed like an eternity, she heard
the pluck of a guitar string, and the world came to an abrupt, dizzying stop in front of them.

  "And...we're here," L.A. said, as Chloe stumbled out of the madness to stand beside him. As she gathered herself and tried to make her legs stop shaking, she looked up and around her in absolute, jaw-dropping wonder.

  They were now in a hexagon-shaped throne room of some kind. There were twelve––she had counted––towering gold statues that stood about fifty feet tall circling the entire room. Each statue was of a man or a woman: seven men and five women to be exact, and they all had beautiful thrones carved out of the outstretched hands of each statue. The walls of the throne room were marbled in red and shards of gold and the roof was domed and painted with a beautiful mural of people in elegant togas laid about in a garden filled with flowers and fruit. Around the base of each of the twelve statues was a ring of smokeless fire, and each inferno seemed to be burning in its own way––different colors, different intensities––as if each flame were special somehow.

  "What is this place?" Chloe asked, awed by the grandiosity of the beautiful room. She had never in her life even imagined anything like it. She twirled around in a small, slow circle to take it all in.

  "This is the Shrine of Olympus," L.A. explained, as he came to stand beside her, "It's a very sacred place, only the gods are allowed here. So get a good look at it, Chloe, and hope that you never see it again."

  "What do you mean?" She looked at him.

  L.A. smirked. "We're in Olympus, the royal province in the heavens of Myth and the home of the gods, though many no longer reside here." He gestured upwards. "This is the throne room of the Olympians, the twelve most powerful Greek deities. This is where important issues are debated and decided. This is where Zeus, the lord of the sky and the King of the gods, grants pardons for wrongdoings…and gives punishments for the same. Mostly punishments, unfortunately, and mostly to stupid, overambitious mortals who have forgotten their place of inferiority." He neither looked nor sounded very sympathetic, making Chloe wonder what part he played in all of this. She committed to memory right then that the Shrine of Olympus was not a place that she ever wanted to see again. Not that she was staying around long enough for it to matter.

  L.A. let Chloe explore the throne room (nothing could have stopped her) while he stood back and watched, his arms crossed, his guitar slung over his back. The first statue Chloe approached was of a regal woman dressed in long robes, with a crown of leaves adorning her head and an owl perched on her shoulder. The woman was encircled with a ring of soft green fire that was giving off a calm floral scent. She was drawn to the flame and inhaled its aroma. Then something else caught her eye.

  "Hey," She said, "There are actual words in the fire." Words were floating around in it, like "humility", "dignity", and "kindness".

  "Words of wisdom," Apollo said. "You're looking at Athena, goddess of Wisdom, Combat, and Victory. She's wise beyond comprehension and strategies of war are her game. She is the deciding factor between victory or defeat, so kings and queens and emperors alike always strived in the old days to stay on her good side. Because if she blessed you at war, you won, hands down." He shrugged like that was somehow unimpressive, even though he was gazing up at her with a soft adoration in his eyes.

  The statue next to Athena was of a hard faced man with a broad stature that was outfitted with heavy armor. He held a spear in the hand not made of the throne. When Chloe approached the bloody red fire surrounding it, she heard battle cries and the sound of swords clanging together and heavy artillery being fired off. It was like a war was being fought within the blaze.

  "Really Chloe, don't stand so close to that particular inferno," L.A. said, "It belongs to Ares, god of War. Stray canon balls have been known to fly out of there from time to time and when they do, it's never a pretty sight." Chloe didn't need any more convincing than that as she backed away from the statue.

  "Who is that?" Chloe asked, frowning as she pointed up at a statue of a grotesque man wearing shabby robes and a hideous sneer.

  "Hephaestus, god of the forge and fire, the builder god," L.A. replied with a look of undeniable disgust, "He's sort of…adopted." L.A. looked quite done with the matter and Chloe didn't ask anything more about it, though she was curious as to what exactly he meant by "adopted".

  Chloe admired another statue of a pretty woman encircled with a very pale yellow ring of fire, holding a bow and arrow while a deer nipped at her heels. L.A. sneered up at it, but Chloe didn't question why.

  "This one that you're gawking at is of Zeus," L.A. said at one point, "If you don't want to die, I suggest you get away from the fire. The lightning you see in the flames is real, and if it strikes you, you'll disintegrate into nothingness."

  At that, Chloe did not move an inch closer. It was an enormous sculpture, much larger than the others. Zeus was wearing a long skirted tunic that exposed a chiseled chest and muscled arms. His face was strong and fierce and he held what looked like a lightning bolt in his hand.

  "He's…big," She gulped.

  "Yup. The only thing bigger is his ego." He gestured towards the statue. "His size is a constant reminder that he is the King, a great Lord of Dominion––the Sky Lord––and that he is more powerful than any other god." He looked at Chloe and smiled. "He scares you, I can tell. Good. He should. Don't piss him off and you'll live to a ripe old age. Zeus doesn't have much tolerance for humans, not that I blame him any. Mortals can be a real pain sometimes."

  She ignored L.A.'s mild insult of the human race and his very clear indication that he was not part of it. She didn't want to think about it. If she did, then she would be forced to think about everything else that had happened so far and it was just too much to deal with at that moment.

  She looked away and let her attention fall on the statue of a handsome man wearing a toga and sandals two statues down from the one of Zeus. She felt such a strong pull towards it and the next thing she knew, she was standing beneath it. The statues's sculpted face was breathtaking, and he was holding what looked to be like a small harp. Music drifted out of the sunny yellow fire surrounding him. One moment it was a violin, the next a piano, the next a saxophone, and it continued to change until Chloe pulled her ear away from the fire and the music stopped all together.

  A flicker of familiarity made her eyes jump back up to the statue's face. It was a face she knew––the structure of it, the round lips, the mischievous eyes, it was all familiar. He stood proud and tall and beautiful in every way. She thought hard for a moment, dug deep into her memory, then sucked in a sharp breath.

  Her head jerked towards L.A. "It's you," She said.

  He was grinning. "It is. Don't tell anyone you've seen me wearing a toga."

  "But––but how can this be you? I thought you said all of these were statues of gods." Then it hit her. "You're a god?"

  He nodded. "Why do you seem so surprised, Chloe? Don't I look like one?" His tone was teasing.

  She sighed in response. "I'm so confused."

  L.A. chuckled. "Okay, okay. I'll stop kiddin' around." He jumped up onto the rim of the fire pit and put his hand to his chest. "I, am the Lord Apollo, god of the Sun, the Prophecy, and Patron of Music." He bowed like he was in front of a horde of adoring fans instead of just one.

  "Lord Apollo?" L.A., Lord Apollo. It made more sense than she wanted it to…

  "Yes, don't let the tats and locks fool you. I'm the deity Apollo, an Olympian, Patron of the Arts and the bringer of light to the earth. The sun does not rise or set without me. Morning only comes when I drive my chariot across the sky." He made an arching gesture with his arm.

  She crossed her arms. "Do I really look that dense? Kingdom in the heavens? Driving a chariot across the sky? Come on, guy, get real."

  L.A. grinned and hopped down to the floor. "True speak, you'll never meet a god more real than me. Prove it, you say? HaHa. My pleasure."

  He plucked the strings of his guitar and the shrine swirled away, but before Chloe could even begi
n to feel nauseated, they appeared inside a beautiful, grand library with treated hardwood floors, multiple levels and countless rows of books encircling the entire room. Winding staircases led up to vaulted landings containing fancy carved bookcases, and ladders on wheels were poised to move about the taller bookshelves. Trinkets, souvenirs, and a million other random objects (like shoes and dog collars) decorated every available inch on the shelves and the walls not taken up with literature. In the center of the library, dozens of old world maps and scrolls were laid out upon beautiful carved wooden tables paired with matching chairs and colorful abstract lamps.

  "This is my own private collection of literature," L.A. said, as they moved among the tables. He stopped once to smooth out what looked to be an old world map of Spain. "I come here a lot to read and to meditate and to refresh my memory of the past. Even a Greek god can't remember everything." They stopped at the end of one of the tall bookcases. L.A. flicked his finger and one of the ladders rolled over to where they were standing. He gestured for her to get on and with a slight hesitation, she climbed aboard. L.A. climbed up behind her and the ladder pulled away.

  "My books are arranged in order––by subject, then from the beginning of time until now," He explained as she made a visual exploration of the countless books, "Once you’ve been convinced the heavens exist, and you will be, you’ll be dying to get back in here. Everything you could want to know about us gods, about Olympus, ancient Greece, anything, is in my library. Because you're the Oracle, you can come here whenever you want. My bad though, I don't have any pop-up books." The ladder rolled over a section of books called "Brutes and Beasts", the scripted name being etched into a gold plaque at the very top of the bookcase. One very large book had a picture of a dragon with the upper body of a human woman and the tail of a Scorpion on its bind. "That's Kampe," L.A. said, noticing her staring at it, "Three things to know about her. She's cunning, sneaky and her teeth leave a hell of a mark."