"Hold your breath…"
"What?" and that was all she got to say before- through that thick, unappealing darkness that surrounded them- their bodies hit the surface of an ice cold water with the speed of the bullet, forcing Xena's mouth to open instinctively in shock at the nearly freezing temperature that had caused every single muscle in her body to contract in pain.
" 'Told you to hold your breath." he paternally scolded, appearing slightly amused though by the uncharacteristic desperation with which- three minutes of intense swimming later- definitely the longest three minutes of her life- she was inhaling large gulps of air that just didn't seem to be enough, judging by the impressive distance that her survival instinct had forced her to cover, cruelly but wisely preventing her from filling her nearly exploding lungs with oxygen.
The pressure had been indeed almost fatal for her frail, mortal body….If it hadn't been for Ares' divine presence who had cautiously projected an energetic shield around her-thus keeping her close to safe while draconically pulling her after him through those murky, intertwining underwater caves and passages- she would have certainly drowned, her form effortlessly crushed by the excessively high pressure as they kept heading deeper and deeper into that seemingly never ending abyss.
"You could have said it sooner, don't you think?" she angrily snapped, once she was able to string a sentence together. " I'm actually starting to believe…" she began-on the same note of indignation, narrowing her mesmerizing blue eyes at him- just to remain speechless when she finally glanced around….Her jaw literally dropped at the amazing sight she had before her, and whatever she had intended to say, everything was automatically erased from her mind, for nothing else could have registered anyway, nothing that was outside of that incredible underwater universe, so different from everything she had seen up to that moment.…..
To all appearances, they were in some sort of cavern, but this was not an ordinary miracle of nature, not by a long shot- not when its walls were literally embroidered with leaves and flowers made out of any gemstone the mortal or immortal mind could think of ….
" Quite impressive huh? The first time I saw this place I could hardly believe it was real." the War God stated, swimming a bit closer to her, thrilled to see that she was as impressed about it as he had anticipated it.
"Are these…..?" she hardly found her voice to question, hypnotized by the mysterious, dark soft blue light glimmering throughout the place, giving every petal a very special , unusual glow…
"Emeralds, rubies, sapphires, diamonds, black onyx, moon stones, ambers , amethyst, pearls, blood-stones, tourmaline, peridots, garnets, you name it…..they are all here…" he specified, his eyes caressing her with a gaze that was tender and anxious at the same time.
"How is this even possible? Who could have..…? They do appear to have been hand made…." she concluded, swimming hurriedly towards the closest wall and carefully analyzing one of the flowers.
The jewel she had chosen to inspect was a dark purple, trumpet shaped petunia, with petals as soft as silk even though they were clearly made out of a rare combination of amethyst, taaffeite and spinel….The vitreous leaves were also an enchantment for the eyes, the light translucent jadeite stone and the tourmaline that had been used to carve them, resulting in an unique piece of art that would have taken anyone's breath away.
"Every single one of them. Someone must have been very, very bored to carve all this...It must have taken forever…" he replied with a chuckle, watching his Princess' every reaction, rejoicing at every gasp of surprise escaping her temptingly kissable coral lips whenever her bright moons would discover a new flower, even more astonishing than the previous one…
" There must be thousands of them !" she exclaimed, confusion painted on her face.
" Millions actually…." he corrected. "And that, without counting the blades of grass and the trees…" he added, casting a pensive glance in the direction of the impressively realistic maples, citrus trees, myrtles, hop bushes, fringe trees and magnolias dominating the place, growing seemingly out of nowhere- for the cutting limestone and dolomite rocks would have naturally offered only little or no support to any type of plant, no matter how small.
" Anyway, let's get you out of the water first . The last thing I want is for you to catch a cold." he advised, wrapping a protective arm around her waist before he gently pulled her with him towards the terrace, where, to her immeasurable surprise, she came across another detail just as surprising as the others…As her hands touched the soft sand of the unusually sparkling beach stretching on the large terrace situated somewhere above the cavern lake, she realized that the fine particles she was feeling under her palms as the God helped her up, was actually gold…gold dust….- tones of it given its thick layer-….What was even more peculiar about it than the reason of its presence though, was that it didn't stick to her hands, and, looking down , she discovered that there was no sign of footprints…..The minute she took another step, the previous one simply vanished, as if no one had ever been there…..
"This is ….unusual….…." she commented, more to herself than for Ares to hear, silently wondering what could have been the use of such fantastic but eerie place…
" What would you like to wear? I know how much you hated that dress…." the War God finally asked, with a wave of his hand dematerializing those wet clothes from her flawless from, sounding half apologetic as he said it- but the sight of her, naked like that before him definitely changed his expression from almost humble to lecherous. His suggestively lifted eyebrows left no room for doubts- he would have fucked her then and there without a second thought, and he would have personally covered her in gold dust just for the sheer pleasure of licking her body clean…
" A simple satin gown. " she stated rather absently, still too taken aback by the supernatural charm of this well hidden, underground world.
" Dark red?"
"Whatever." she answered, but he could easily see it in her eyes- she was more than comfortable with the color he had chosen for her. Also, he couldn't help sketching a smile at the awareness that she had unconsciously started to have the same preferences as he did. For some impossible to comprehend reason, though, he wasn't at all bothered by her blatant lack of originality- something that had happened countless times before with countless women who used to fully agree with anything he said just to please him- quite the contrary, he was particularly thrilled with the perspective of her gradually becoming his mirror image…
" They are breathtaking…I haven't seen anything alike in my life…." she whispered in all honesty, scanning the area once again, now that she was out of the water and she could finally have a broader perspective on that spectacular, mysterious location. The cavern was high, very high, probably sixty feet tall, and looking down at the water, she could now notice that its colour would periodically change from dark blue to teal, turquoise and even forest green….
"I believe you. There are only two people in the world who have actually been fortunate enough as to see this marvel."
" The King and the Queen?" she naturally supposed, unable to prevent a frown from creasing her forehead the minute Amytis' alluring visage invaded her mind, obviously still plagued by the content of their previous, heart-shattering conversation.
" You and I" Ares immediately contradicted her with a half smile that appeared to be contagious, for, only a heartbeat later, despite not having had any intention doing anything similar, she offered him an equally rapturous, genuine smile- though soon dominated by a look of confusion that ended up darkening her bright beryl moons.
" Oh…..Are you telling me that they have no idea how rich they actually are….?!" she questioned, finding it hard to believe.
" Clueless…."
" Why would you keep such information from your old, beloved friends? " she stressed, trying to effectively replace the visible effects of that ironic grin now stretching the corners of her mouth, with a more adequate reaction. " You owe Nabbucco your life, you said it yourself…"
" Probably because unlike most mortals, Xena, I don't have the habit of mistaking gratitude with idiocy. "
" I see…."
" Plus…you'll soon discover that I have all the reasons in the world to do anything in my powers to prevent them from ever finding it, anyway…"
" Why is that ? Are you afraid that they'll become richer than you and….buy Mount Olympus and leave you homeless or something?" she mocked, arching a brow at her own ridiculous scenario.
He laughed richly at her supposition, of course. He simply loved her sense of humor, and as if that wasn't enough, to top it all, she was actually the only woman who had managed to wake something very peculiar inside him….a feeling of adoration, of veneration really, that he was unable to suppress or explain….And the fact that he had begun to show interest even in her own opinion about him...that was just inconceivable.
"Ares…..! " her voice caressed his soul, despite the mild note of irritation in it.
" Have you ever heard of the Secret Gardens of Babylon?" he mechanically inquired, realizing that he must have been staring at her like a fool for the past few seconds…
" No…..should I have?"
" Well….had you been a treasure hunter, definitely yes, though I would have thought every mortal on the planet is dreaming about finding this hidden paradise."
" I'm no treasure hunter…"
" There's no doubt in my mind about that….Come on, walk with me…." he courteously invited, taking her hand in his and heading down a tight tunnel that was enigmatically making its way throughout one of the cavern walls.
They must have walked at least a mile down that labyrinthine passage until they got to a slightly smaller hall in the center of which stood a breathtaking white marble garden pavilion, surrounded by seven statues depicting ancient Gods and Goddesses the origin of whom she was unable to tell. They were wearing strange, extremely strange clothes, and their faces didn't precisely appear to be human- though they weren't animals either. Their eyes were unusually long and wide, their faces elongated and their necks a bit too thin compared to the normal standards- not to mention the presence of the wings-
...What was really intriguing about them, was their posture though...Each and every one of these creatures was - almost shyly- covering a part of his or her body...the eyes, the mouth, the ears, the heart, the forehead, the genitals and the wrist were thus impossible to be seen.
Nevertheless, despite the royal elegance of that highly elaborated ornamental structure, the Warrior Princess' mind was rather focused on recalling where exactly she had seen a similar dome….It felt frustratingly familiar and yet she just couldn't place her finger on the exact location she had spotted it in.….
" Art has certainly captured your attention more than my divine presence has ever been able to do it" the Olympian joked after a small pause in which he allowed her to drink in the magnificent details before her…..The natural looking ivy- creeping up the attentively carved marble pillars of the structure- had made her wonder if real plants could actually grow in there…..
"You still haven't told me who built this place and why…" she brought the subject up again as she touched one of the leaves and discovered- to her boundless surprise- that they were as artificial as all the others she had seen earlier.
" Seraphinite….." he murmured casually, as if having read her thoughts. " ...The Gods that inhabited the earth millions of years before I was even born…." he then continued, answering her actual question. " Legend has it, that the Gardens were a gift from Himatru- God of the Underworld- to his beloved wife Melena- Godddess of the Sky- …..She missed the ravishing landscape of her country terribly and in order for her to feel like home, he created this subterranean paradise for her. It appears to have been a wedding gift. "
"Just like Nabucco's…." she mused, her brain instantly connecting the two situations.
" Yeah….that bastard has always been good at copying things…sadly, his is just a pale imitation of the impossible to reproduce original. "
" He could have never done anything similar no matter how hard he tried…." she agreed, shaking her head slowly….
" Damn right he wouldn't have. As stubborn as that old buck is, he would have never been able to come even close to this wonder…"
" How exactly did you find them, again?"
" Well…..it took me about 300 years to figure out the approximate location ….the rest was a piece of cake..."he whispered lowly into her ear as if it had been the darkest secret humanity had been forced to keep, and the implication of his words hit her like a lightening bolt.….Was he saying what she thought he did?
" I still don't get it…..why would the God of War even be interested in a bunch of gems….no mater how beautifully crafted ?" she asked, stepping inside the pavilion.
" Actually, it was not the gems I was after ." he explained, his fingers playing restlessly through her long raven tresses….He just couldn't help touching her…..For the love of all Gods why was she so upset with him?
" I could imagine that much….So….what's this all about then?"
" Something much more alluring…something unique….-.a myth, the Bards might say, just like the one regarding this location….."he informed, casually waving his hand and revealing to her something that she had clearly missed before…..Something concealed from mortal eyes- a round marble table on which, in a water lily shaped silver bowl, one single flower floated proudly ….
" A rose?" she inquired, her legs turning instantly into jelly as the words of the Queen began replaying inside her head again….A dark rose…the very image of it was haunting her to the point where she could barely look at the accursed plant.
" Not just any rose….. Like everything else inside this magical place, it has a story attached to it….Plus, this pretty little thing can be eaten…."
" Eaten?" she asked, a perplexed look on her face. Was he making fun of her? Was this his new sick idea of a joke? "Why would anyone want to eat a rose?"
" Not a rose….The shape is the only thing they have in common. In fact, what's you're looking at, is something else…..something that every pantheon in the world has dreamt about owning from the beginning of time...dark ambrosia…" he clarified, softly touching one of its velvety petals.
" Don't you have enough ambrosia back in Greece?! What's so different about this one?" she asked, a skeptical expression on her face, unconsciously biting her lips at the delicate way in which he was now caressing the perfectly shaped petals of that seemingly invaluable treasure.
" Well, in short, it gives anyone who eats it, the power to reshape the surface of the world… a power so great, an energy so hard to imagine that the lucky soul who possesses it, would be able to obliterate humanity with just a flick of his fingers…That's precisely the reason why it has been buried in this Gods forsaken cavern, for all this time…"
" Not well enough if you found it." she remarked, frowning at the implication.
"What can I say? I'm like a magnet for trouble…" he laughed, clicking his tongue.
" So uh….how comes you haven't eaten it yet?" a fair question indeed.
There was a short pause before he offered her an answer, but when he finally did, time itself stopped flowing for the Warrior Princess and as he slowly cradled her pretty face in his hands, locking their gazes together, her heart nearly jumped out of her chest.
" I have been waiting for something to happen…."
" What?"
" For you to come along….."