Good-NITT Cupid
The Last Valentine
Yawning, Cupid draws the string on his bow to shoot the last arrow for the day. Making people fall in love can be extremely tiring, considering that mortals have very complicated emotions. Does she want him, or is she just acting out? Who can tell? With Valentine’s Day approaching, Cupid had been working harder than ever, because nobody wanted to be alone on the big day.
Satisfied with his work, he decides to call it a night, and heads back to Olympus. After working overtime, he deserves some ‘Amazon Prime and chill’ at the very least. As he makes his way home, he is stopped by a giant Zeus at the foot of Mount Olympus. He knows that this can’t be good; Zeus only assumes his giant form when he’s excited or angry, but Cupid can’t make out which one it is because his face is way up in the clouds. Cursing under his breath, Cupid also assumes his true, giant form and stands face-to-face with the mighty lord of the skies.
“There lives a mortal on the banks of a river, south of this place, fairest lady in the land...” Zeus begins.
“Many attractive men have tried their luck, but she has given in to none. Hair, as red as blood, eyes-”
“Are you asking me to set you up?” sniggers Cupid, interrupting Zeus as he describes his new love interest. Zeus, red in the face, can only manage a “Yes”.
“I’ve had a very long day setting up people who have way more to worry about than just the weather. Besides, don’t you have enough demigods lying around to populate an entire country? Geez man, if only you could learn some loyalty from your wife!” retorts an exhausted Cupid.
“HOW DARE YOU? I am Zeus, the God of the skies and the ruler of Olympus, and I will not have a minor God like you talk to me in such tones.”
“Through pride and dissension you shall not gain
The curse of love shall be your bane”
Zeus bawls into the skies. Thunder shakes the mountain and Cupid feels a force as strong as Olympus collapsing on top of him. Swatted out of the sky, Cupid plummets toward the ground at breakneck speed. Reeling from the impact, he is dazed. After a few seconds of free fall, he gathers his thoughts and opens his wings to try and glide to a halt. However, he fails miserably and crashes head first into the ground.
Just as he blacks out, he sees a beautiful, yet concerned face peering over him.
Cupid wakes up the next afternoon in a bed at the Apollo Hospital. The sun is in his face and he’s aching all over. The doctor walks up to him, does a quick check and tells him that he can leave, but will need a week to recover completely. As he lies on the bed, waiting to be discharged, he spots a cow grazing outside through the window and considers the possibility of getting back at Zeus. “Nah. Been there, done that. I need something more original and elaborate for him”, he thinks to himself remembering that one minotaur incident a few thousand years ago.
Soon, a nurse walks in with a prescription of all his medicines and tells him he’s good to go. Cupid grabs the piece of paper and walks tenderly to the pharmacy. The man at the counter brightens up as soon as Cupid opens the door. He takes in the prescription but barely gives it a glance. He goes to the back of the room and comes back with a peculiar looking bottle. He winks at Cupid and hands it over. Cupid realises that it’s ambrosia. He eats the godly medicine and immediately begins to feel better. He groans at the fact that they didn’t give it to him earlier and slowly starts to walk out of the hospital.
On his way out, he notices the same face that he had seen just before he passed out. “Something about this girl makes her stand out” he thinks to himself. “Is it the conspicuously green streaks in her hair or the angelic calm in her eyes?”
Intrigued, he walks up to her. “Hey”, she says, smirking. “I’m the one who brought you here. Are you feeling better now?”
To which he replies, “Hey, thanks a ton for helping me out. And yes, I do.”
They keep talking and he starts feeling mysteriously enchanted by her presence. When they reach the hospital gate, she tells him that she needs to go to Orion to attend a class. Cupid sighs inwardly as he hears the name of the building but offers to accompany her there. “Mortals”, he thinks.
Just as they reach Orion, she finds out that her class has been cancelled. “Maybe the Gods aren’t so bad after all”, Cupid smirks to himself.
“Any plans for the evening?”, he asks her.
“Nah, I suppose I’ll just get back to my hostel.” she replies.
He decides to take a leap of faith; it was now or never. “Wanna hang out for a while by those benches?” Cupid asks her.
“How about those trees? They make me feel at home”, she responds. He readily agrees and the duo settle down by the trees and start talking. Time goes by and now the moon is shining dimly above Orion, ushering an aura of peace and tranquility into the surroundings. As they delve deeper into the conversation, the nagging thought of his punishment fades away, and is replaced with visions of a future that seems tantalizingly close. As he looks up towards the stars, Orion’s belt shines brighter than ever before.
“Beautiful, aren’t they?”, she says as she gets up on her feet and steps out of the darkness. In the moonlight, her Elysian beauty had no equal.
“This is it. I’ve only got one shot at this… one shot will do”, he thinks as his bow and quiver materialize out of thin air at his side. His aim true, he notches an arrow and lets it loose. It finds its mark and he begins to imagine her in his arms already. Strangely, she stays rooted to the spot and makes no hint of motion. His gaze stays fixed on her back in anticipation. The eerie silence is broken by the sudden chimes of the clock tower striking nine. Cupid turns his head in the direction of the sound and suddenly, all the leaves of the tree he is leaning on, fall in unison.
The blanket of green engulfs his vision for a brief moment. Startled, he turns back towards the girl and sees that she is nowhere to be found. Cupid senses that something has gone terribly wrong — even the all-powerful God feels the fear coursing through him. He hears an ungodly screeching behind him and before he can turn around, fangs sink deep into his flesh. The sight before his eyes chills him to the bone. A visage that would put Medusa to shame; her bloodshot eyes shine with primeval energy, and her pale, ashen face looks nothing like her former self. Even in the dark, he could make out her hair change its colour, with the luscious green streaks turning to a sinister ebony. Her lips are dripping with golden ichor, the blood of the Gods. He extends his wings to try and escape, but it is already too late. Wooden claws sink in between his ribs, and he is yanked backwards into the tree by the nymph, which morphs and engulfs him whole, rooting him in place. Layers of wood cover his vision and crush him from all sides.
He realizes that his greatest power had been taken away from him, and instead, his arrows now sowed discord and hatred in whoever they pierced. Immortal as he may be, his injuries will take time to heal, and for the first time in his entire existence, he feels truly powerless. Imprisoned in a coffin of root and bark, he fears not for himself, but for a world devoid of love. A world which will be slowly deprived of the one power that is capable of healing wounds that are more than skin deep.
This article was written by Abhishek Ramachandran, Adhithya Sundar, Antony Terence, Chinmayi Lanka, Abhinaya S B and Vishnu Deepak.
