As the group watched them disappear, they heard the sound of angelic laughter.
The sound filled the room with beauty and stirred the soul. The room filled with the fragrance of roses.
The group looked towards the circle of white stone bathed in sunlight. Green Lantern's eyes were round and unbelieving. A tiny foot in an elegant shoe appeared. It stepped on to the far edge of the white stone circle as if emerging from behind a veil. It was followed by a long and supple leg. A hip and lissome waist then appeared; clad in a delicate fabric of silver that was so fine it almost wasn't there. More of her body came into view as she climbed slowly and elegantly on to the portal, her shoulders being her broadest feature. Finally, upon a long and graceful neck, came a regal head with the most exquisite of features.
At last she stood in all her glory at the centre of the stone circle, the breeze rippling her wispy blonde hair. The silver dress she wore floated in the air around her like tissue, revealing far too much of her amazing body. She was tall, her shape a tantalizingly long and lithesome form. Her hips were slim and her waist was hardly thicker than a man's arm. Her breasts were full and firm. Like her body, her limbs were well shaped.
The sylph-like figures that decorated the wooden panels around the room suddenly appeared heavy and clumsy.
A voluptuous, blonde haired goddess.
Aphrodite held out her long arms and bent slightly forward. Her hands were elegant, her fingers graceful as they beckoned to Green Lantern.
"No," said Fanci, "don't go. Don't trust her. We need to stay together for the battles ahead."
"Come to me, Emerald Warrior." It was the voice of an angel.
Mesmerized by her voice, Green Lantern walked forward, took her tiny hands in his, and stepped onto the stone pad. They stood together in the centre of the circle, bathed in the sunlight, her slim form towering over his.
He looked up at her exquisite face, uncaring.
Ares was heard laughing out loud. "Ha! The lure of a Goddess can never be denied!"
An instant later the scene vanished.
The room was suddenly empty and cold, as if the life had gone out of the place.
Green Lantern wondered why he had been chosen by the goddess. Surely, Superman was a better specimen of a man to consort with? What motive did the Aphrodite have?
Aphrodite stood a little distance away from him. She had her back to him. She was standing on her toes at full height, her arms out-stretched and her head tilted back, her face raised to the sun. Her fine golden hair cascaded from her head. It reached beyond her waist. And the fine silver dress she wore almost disappeared in the bright sunlight.
The sight of her transfixed Green Lantern. She had such a graceful form that he could almost imagine the breeze carrying her off. He wanted so much to run his fingers through that fine hair, to embrace her tall but slim form.
Aphrodite flexed her supple fingers and then dropped her arms to her side and sank down from her toes.
Green Lantern could resist no longer. He stepped forward and encircled her waist with his hands. His fingers met and overlapped on her stomach. "Why do you pull me here, Aphrodite?" he asked.
She turned in his grip, facing him and stopping him by placing her long fingers gently over his mouth. With a smile full of laughter, Aphrodite said, "Do I not look like your ideal woman? Have you never described me as I am, to your comrade-in-arms, the Archer?"
"Yes, well…but that's only a dream," began Green Lantern.
"Shh, now. The decision was mine. This war is not your war. Our lives are meant for pleasure. Let us make love not war, Warrior Hal."
When she had turned, Green Lantern had let his hands move down over hips on to her bottom. Now he slowly moved his hands back up her long and sinuous body, moving them around to the front until they had reached her chest. Once there, he gently cupped her burgeoning breasts and looked at her with the eagerness of a child.
She looked back at him. "You wish to consort with me?"
"How can I stand so close to you and not feel the power of your body?"
"Yes, the power of my body," she repeated smiling divinely at him. "Ares, too, is overcome by my power."
Green Lantern looked surprised. "You have lain with Ares?"
She laughed and stroked his body. "I will take the pleasure I need from whom I need and when I need. Take me to your bed, Warrior Hal. Acquaint yourself with the taste of my flesh. Make me quiver with delight and gasp breathlessly in this thick air. For a short time let us both forget the horrors of war and live for a few seconds in the arms of our dreams."