Love is Strong

1565 BC

*

The King of Corinth had three wonderful daughters. The youngest, Psyche, was much more beautiful than her two sisters and looked like a goddess among mere mortals. The fame of her beauty had been spread throughout the whole kingdom and men kept coming to her palace to admire and worship her.

When people would see her, they used to say that not even Aphrodite herself could compete Psyche. The more people were getting to know Psyche, the less would remember the goddess of love and beauty. The temples of Aphrodite were abandoned, her altars covered with cold ashes and the sculptors would no more make statues for her. All the honors reserved to her were then attributed to a simple, mortal girl.

The Goddess told her son, Eros, the God of Love, to make Psyche fall in love with the ugliest creature out there. Eros agreed to do so but the moment he saw her, he himself felt his heart pierced by one of his own arrows. He fell in love. He couldn't make that charming maiden fall for a horrible creature, but he also decided not to tell this to his mother.

Psyche, however, was feeling bad because not only she could not fall in love with someone but, even more surprising, nobody seemed to really fall in love with her. Men were happy just to admire her. Then they passed by and married another girl. Her two sisters, though definitely less seductive, had held two lavish weddings, each with a king. Psyche was the most beautiful girl on Earth, but she was sad and lonely, always admired but never really loved. It seemed that no man would want her as his wife and this caused great anxiety and distress to her parents.

That is when her father went to visit the oracle of Delphi to ask for an advice on what to do to find a husband for Psyche. The prophecy was terrible. The Oracle decreed that Psyche, dressed in black dress, should be brought to the summit of a mountain and stay there alone. The husband that was assigned to her, who is as powerful as the gods themselves, would come up and take her for his wife.

--

"There she is, oh my, what a waste. She's being sent off to somewhere by the King!"

"She's dressed like she's already dead!"

"Oh, poor princess."

Many people around the town were voicing out their pitiful remarks at Psyche. The group of Julius, who overheard lots of them, struggled to squeeze into the mob that was lining up the street.

"Hey, excuse me – ow!" Someone stepped on Julius' foot.

"Sorry." Apparently, it was just Sayo. Then when he looked up, holy smokes, he became a convert of the Psyche-cult too.

The blonde woman was dressed like she's going to a Greek Funeral, in flowing black peplos, with a sheer veil lightly covering her face. Despite that hindrance, it does not really cover up the glory of her visuals. Psyche is, no doubt, the loveliest person Julius had ever seen ever since he arrived here in Ancient Greece.

However, she looked sad – crestfallen – and Julius knew why. It's because she will be sent into a cliff to meet his groom.

"Quit simping." Sayo elbowed him and he finally averted his gaze from Psyche, who was still marching her death march.

"Uh – Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" He asked his comrades.

"Obviously, no." Rexis replied.

"So we'll kidnap her?" Sayo actually got it right.

"Yeah. Kidnapping is nothing new in Greek Mythology. It's a classic move." Julius confidently said.

"I can act like the decoy." Tobias volunteered for the operation.

And so they formulated a plan to kidnap Psyche in mere five minutes. They scanned their surroundings and determined that the high house just around the corner will be their meeting place once they successfully get hold of their subject. Tobias will create chaos care of Rexis, Sayo will be the lookout who'll wait for all of them to arrive, and Julius, well, he's the kidnapper. He will use his space powers to abduct the girl.

Julius wondered if they really need to do such thing, but he convinced himself that what he's doing is for Psyche's own sake – she must know the truth so that she won't commit one of the greatest betrayals in Greek mythology.

They finally commenced their operation. Rexis set a nearby tree on fire, and Tobias created the bigger commotion. "FIRE! FIRE! FIIIIRE!" Honestly, the boy can be nominated for his acting.

The people were alarmed and turned their attention to the ongoing fire. In that split-second of their attention being away from the lady in black, Julius vanished and reappeared right in front of the distressed Psyche in a flash.

"Sorry about this." He softly said, as he got a hold of her and instantly disappeared. The next thing that Psyche knew, she was in a rooftop several yards away from where she was previously death-marching.

"Wha –"

"Hurry, hurry!" Sayo called for Rexis and Tobias, who were already climbing their way up the rooftop.

"Who –"

"Now where do we go?!" Sayo demanded from Julius. Ooof, it seems that they haven't thought about where they'll go after.

"Uh – uh – Corinth…uh – uh – Delphi!" That was the first place that came into his mind. After a few more seconds, Tobias and Rexis finally joined them.

"Where –"

"I'll explain everything to you once we're out of this place, okay, Psyche?" Julius said to the stressed Psyche, who was silenced by the tone he used on that sentence.

"Alright everyone, grab on to me." He told his friends.

'Seriously, I hope this will work. Please, I've been there already. Come on, theory, work!' Julius was internally praying that this attempt of him will work out. It's his first time to actually go from 'one place' to 'another', without the help of the Book. Before, he just transports himself to places which was visible to him or near his current location. But right now, he's imagining transporting all of them to the first place that entered his brain – where he thought they'll be safe – the Shrine of Delphi.

"The princess has disappeared!" The noises below were seriously affecting his concentration, but he tried to drown out the noise and continued his attempt. 'Come on.'

Then, a portal suddenly opened up before them, and Julius told the others, "Hurry, before it goes out!"

One by one, they entered the portal. Psyche entered after Sayo, andJulius was the last person to go in. Finally, they reached the other side of the portal.

"Julius, where the hell are we?" Rexis muttered in confusion after seeing their surroundings. There were rocks, rocks everywhere.

"This is the cliff leading to Mt. Parnassus – we're near to Delphi!" It was Tobias who answered his question.

"Uh – guys, we've got a problem." Sayo pointed nearby, where, voila – problem is indeed brewing. A terrible tornado is coming their way.

"There's a whirlpool here too." Psyche said, pointing to the opposite direction. And yep, a whirlpool was also there.

The five of them found themselves sandwiched in two malevolent forces of nature. Before they can think of a way out, the tornado's intense power began to blow them away.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" It seems that the tornado was actually targeting Psyche, who was lifted from the ground and carried into the eye of that storm.

"PSYCHE!" Julius tried to go after her, but Rexis was holding him down.

"Dude, careful!" Rexis did it to save him from an attack on his blind side. A certain silhouette of someone inside the maelstrom of the whirlpool can be actually seen, and he was the source of that attack.

Psyche's screams can be heard from inside the tornado, which, on the outside, was forming a face of a person. 'This must be Zephyr!' Julius thought, remembering the God of the West Wind.

--

Inside the tornado, Psyche was trapped and can't get out. "Let me go, let me go!"

"Hush, now, maiden. I shall take you to your husband." Replied the tornado.

"Husband?" Asked the baffled girl.

"Indeed. His love for you is so strong that he wishes to see you now. Forgive me for this inconvenience, but we must go." The tornado then shifted his direction and went away from the group who took her from Corinth. But faint yells of the guy who didn't even introduce himself to her was heard by Psyche.

"Trust your husband! Trust your husband! Don't betray him! He's the God of – " The rest of his statement was muted by the loud winds.

--

Back outside, as the tornado was beginning to drift away, the whirlpool from the opposite direction already reached the ends of the cliff, and the group of Julius braced themselves for whoever was inside the thing.

"Trust your husband! Trust your husband! Don't betray him! He's the God of Love! Don't make this more complicated, Psyche!" He shouted until his voice became raspy. Julius hoped the girl heard him.

Finally, the whirlpool subsided and the man inside stepped on the solid ground of the cliff. He looks like he's the most bored person on Earth.

"So, er – who the hell among you guys is the Son of Time?" The stranger said.