1 1- THE EXILE OF EROS

"I am never a fool to judge myself" a mantra that Aphrodite had put upon her head to remind her every single day of how beautiful she is. She thinks, she is the most desirable of all women-which is of course true at some point. For who is more admirable than the goddess of love and beauty? Although she is without much of intelligence, men fantasized her because of her flesh and shape.

Mortals never know the secrets in Olympus. The secrets of their mistakes and irresponsibility, their carelessness and their greed. Never did they blamed their own self for the destructions they caused. They fed the mortals with stories of their bravery, their victory, and some mild negative attitudes. Believe me, when I say mild it means only five percent of their foolishness.

Their abode? They don't live in the skies, the do live up high like towers and buildings but never above the sky. Zeus can only hold himself up and his eagles won't do, technologies are way too expensive and they need to avoid detection from the prying eyes of human beings.

Athena, lives in Greece, Poseidon lives at the bottom of the Mariana's Trench, Zeus at the peak of Mt. Everest, Apollo in Sahara Dessert Artemis in the North Pole where the sun appears only once a year. They each live where their power dominates the place. Which means, Aphrodite would expectedly live in luxury and abundance of immeasurable beautification. Her son, Eros is no more than a fish. So foolish he would shoot his magic arrows at the wrong person plus his visibility to the mortals were of much problem as his entire physique. If a mortal would see him without guarding her heart, ha! Eros could fucking bend even the most masculine of all males.

When Olympus was at the leaning tower of Giza, where not much of the humans could get inside, Zeus summoned the goddess of love concerning the increasing death rates and suicide incidents because of tragic love affairs. In fact, the London Bridge b3ecame famous for its height- perfect to earn death. When Aphrodite entered the hall of questions, Zeus became too serious. The god of the underworld complained because of overpopulation. The souls sunk Charon's ship. Too many souls. Since Hephaestus is not yet done building the new ship, the souls has to swim across the river Styx.

The space in the underworld is getting narrower each day Hades has to force all the souls to dig for the newcomers to occupy. It even came to the extent when an arrogant rich man refused to swim and Charon has to help him. Unfortunately, they both drowned but lucky they were dead they won't have to die the second time around.

Aphrodite tried to explain but her tongue betrayed her. Instead, she said:

"For these death, I'm responsible to none of it. These mortals blames the gods for the infortunes the beget from loving but it is them who made their life miserable." Conscious not to ruin her lipstick she wore, she speaks modestly.

"They choose to give their hearts to someone who does not deserve such privilege."

"I know these people had their faults but you and your son must be the one who helps them! You must have done something!" Everytime Zeus opens his mouth, sparks comes out. Which made Aphrodite shudder. Afraid that the sparks may catch her lash and brows and burn them. That would be her greatest resentment. For she spent centuries just to attain the perfect her brows and a millennia just to take care of her lashes.

"Bring the young Eros here!"

Zeus' voice sounds like a thunder under a deep hole.

The young and imperious Eros appeared just from the window, hair ruffled and wings still gaining balance. His bows drawn to his side and his arrows shining.

"Just got the message fromHermes… hmhm, never expected such. I got here as fast as I can, mind you, I almost bumped a plane on my way here." He sounded so jolly which shifted to awkward silence.

"Eros, a young dove! Hahaha!" Zeus turned into a mischievous mood but became serious once again.

"Do you know that death rates from different countries rose to two percent, mainly because of tragic love?"

And just that, Eros bursts laughing.

"Two percent? Hahaha! So, my optic doctor is no good! Tell me mother, can Hermes heal my eyes? No! Hahaha! I'm afraid that will be ten percent! My sight is no good, my dear gods and no one could make it better! So, can anyone tell me how could I shoot my arrows to a target without mistake?"

The goddess of love understands. He is her son after all. He had this problem just a century ago, while peeping at Persephone as she arranges her hair. Eros was trying to spot a good timing when to shoot her with love arrows. But Hades was on his business of warding off insects. Which unluckily hit Eros by the eyes. The poison has no cure. During this past years, the eyes worsen due to severe perversions among humans.

"Eros, your deficiency is of no excuse to this case. Why don't you use your powers?"

Again, Eros took his composure.

"My powers? How many times have I done it? My mistletoes withered. Do you know how important is to shoot the lovers with arrows? The arrows bounded them together, it is the connection of their hearts. When I shoot a girl with my arrow and its pair hits a dog, you know lovers should be a pair humans. And if the arrow can't get to the right pair, you know the consequence."

Hearing this, Athena rose to her chair.

"By the young god's answers, I can see no reason to have him punished. But may I found a reason that he must take his duty off. He must be given a chance to take his vacation. He must be reduced into a mere mortal in appearance. We would remove his wings and he must be sent into college. He only had one year to accomplish his mission. Or else, he can never come back. He can never be part of Olympus."

"You think mortals could heal my eyes when the gods cannot?"

"There are things that we do not know about them unless we ourselves stumble over it."

"Don't worry, we will take care of your stay there. We will provide your accommodation." Demeter assured him.