Thalia headed across the lawn over to the high chambers. Her mother had called a special meeting with her and she wondered if she had been reported once again for daydreaming in her history class.

Reaching the citadel, she quickly hurried up the monumentally long staircase and entered the hallway to her Mother's chamber. Passing through a large arched doorway she saw the Goddess over by the window which looked out on the Sea of Tranquility. Her mother was a beautiful woman even at her age, which in earth time would be 40 years. That was the age when she had lost her physical life on earth, though she barely looked a day over 30. Her long burnished gold hair was clasped behind her head, and golden chains of diamonds, were interwoven around and through the long waterfall of her hair. She had on a thin pink gown, one shoulder bare, and slit up the side baring one long curvaceous leg. On her head she wore a small wreath made from gold that held tiny fire opal stones that signified her title as Goddess of the Dawn. Her feet were clad in white sandals which had straps that wound around her calves up to her knees.

Her Mother turned from the window as Thalia bowed slightly and said, "Ah Thalia. Sit my dear." Thalia sat on the stone bench in front of her Mother's throne and waited.

"I called you here daughter, because at the yearly drawing last night of the elders we once again chose a name. The name was chosen by the High Priest from a hundred or so junior Goddesses, at random. I am so happy to tell you that your name was the one chosen. I congratulate you my dear! The mission is a level 5," her Mother continued, "and is the usual one that comes up every year. The Adonis Mission," her Mother finished.

Thalia was quiet. Although time was measured here in Titania and in the other realms, it was not measured in the same way as in earthly time tables.

Every year on earth was the passing of a thousand years in their realm. The Adonis Mission was a mission which had not ever been completed, Thalia remembered from her Current History lessons. But she was not very good at history and did not remember all the details involved in the mission. All she remembered was that it had been attempted three times and had failed each time.. And now she realized she herself would be the next of the Junior Goddesses to try and complete it.

Thalia was not a full Goddess as of yet. She was granted immortality because she had been born of a union between a Goddess and a mortal. There were many junior goddesses as herself in Titania. In order to achieve their full title as Goddess, they must complete a level 5 mission. Level 5 was the highest level and therefore the most important of all the missions. If Thalia completed the mission successfully, she would be promoted to full Goddess and awarded both power and prestige. Thalia was known as the Junior Goddess of Eternal Beauty and Healing. She was indeed very beautiful and once she was awarded her full powers she would be able to heal anything living, whether plant life or animal life, though within reason. Her powers had limits. She could not bring people back to life once they were dead, and her healing would only be successful if the mortal's injuries or illness wasn't too advanced.

But she could only achieve this when she had successfully completed the mission. Then not only would she be granted her full powers, she would be able to, on her own, take a mortal of her choosing as her mate if she so desired. She would also have the choice to be sent on other assignments to earth which was considered the mark of prestige. Many of the older God's and Goddesses had hundreds of missions that they had completed thereby achieving fame and high prestige among their race. However if she failed in her mission she would not be able to leave her host target, and she would lose the small amount of power she had. She would be forced to live out her life on earth until her host died and only then would her partial power be restored. Then she would return to Titania and in time be considered for another mission. Three other junior goddesses had failed and were living out their life on earth now trapped in their host's body until they died. Then and only then would the goddesses return to Titania.

Her Mother said then, "Do you remember what your history instructor told you this particular mission is about?"

"Some of it, but not all," Thalia admitted.

Her Mother sighed and then said, "Your mission is to find and meld with a mortal woman, encouraging her to seek out a select individual. A mortal man, chosen by the high council for his strong, courageous, noble heart, who is handsome and virile, and filled with the song, whose hypnotic influence has inflamed the hearts of millions both male and female of the species.. A mortal man who now has faltered."

She paused and then sat down on her throne.

"You," Eos told her, "will encourage your host target to fall in love with him. Once you perform the ritual and with you with her body it will be impossible for him to resist her and if everything goes right, he will fall in love with the woman. Much research has been done regarding the target and the mortal. Despite the mortal having been tied to an earthly mate for 18 years which produced offspring, this was not his life mate. Your target is his true life mate as foretold in the prophecy. Once the two fall in love they will come together and produce a child who will be a Titan. Half Titan half human. Many before you have tried but failed," the Goddess continued. "But the time is right for success. The mortal's union with his own earthly mate has come to an end.

Although his social life has suffered drastically because of his severed ties with the previous union and at present, he is in a state of depression and loneliness. With your help your target host will pull his focus off of himself and on to her."

Her mother grew silent for a moment and then said, "You will be sharing the body of a woman called Alexandria Grey and you must encourage her to find this mortal. The mortal woman was chosen as the host because of character. Her beauty, intelligence, her passionate nature and her great capacity for love both giving and receiving. She is considered to be a beautiful woman and in her previous chosen profession she has made that work to her advantage and was fairly successful at it. However once you meld with her, her own beauty will become enhanced. It will take on an ethereal quality because you the Goddess of Eternal Beauty and Healing and will be residing inside of her.

In addition, she will be capable of the same amount of power that you yourself have. She, through you Thalia, will be able to heal to a certain degree. It should not be too difficult for you in regards to completing the task with host and mortal," her mother told her, "for the woman, Alexis as she is called by her peers, is already one of his followers. You must encourage Alexis to win his trust and his heart."

The raven haired Thalia spoke up then. "But Mother I've never melded with a mortal before. Is it painful?"

Her Mother stared at her. "Painful? What an odd question, my child," she answered. "Where did you hear such a thing?"

"Well there has been talk in the realm," Thalia replied looking unsure.

Her Mother said, "Although we immortals, do feel some emotions such as love, happiness, and lesser emotions such as frustration on occasion, in our realm as we are now, we feel no pain Thalia. No anger nor hatred. You know this. Have you ever felt pain even for a moment since you arrived in Titania?" her Mother asked her gently.

Thalia shook her head no.

"Over the thousands of years eventually those emotions have disappeared, because our realm is perfect and negative emotions as those never come into play anymore, which eventually, thanks to a little help from Kronos, have simply been removed from our minds completely.

However once you meld with your host, you will feel everything she is feeling. Love, hate, delight, despair, anger, happiness, sadness and yes, even pain.

As for the actual melding or Amalgamate Ritual itself, that is nothing but a pin prick and happens so fast you will not even remember making the transition," her Mother told her.

"One word, daughter," her Mother said her face grave, "it is very important that whenever you send thoughts to your host, you are subtle about it. She must never hear your voice, or she may feel as though she is losing her mind and that could be disastrous for the mission."

"But," her daughter said, "how will it be explained that if she injures herself, the injury will heal? Will that not bring up some feelings of confusion or fear?"

"Excellent question, Thalia," her Mother replied. "According to the prophecy, Alexandria's paternal Grandmother who among certain gifts she had such as foreseeing future events had a another ability. She had a lesser gift of healing and told the child when she was 12 years of age, that she would develop a unique talent in later years. It would be the power to heal, although her Grandmother did not tell her this. But Alexandria was aware that her Grandmother possessed the gift and it was their secret.

When Alexandria discovers she has this power of healing, it will eventually make her remember what her grandmother had told her. She will most likely wonder about it at first, but will ultimately not go public with it, fearing that she would become a target then." her Mother told her.

"If you remember in your 'Special Powers' class, it was explained that a mortal that had a god or goddess melded with them, even though they would take on whatever power the god or goddess possessed, the mortal's power would be limited. For each time they use it, it puts an enormous load on their system and therefore weakness and exhaustion sets in until after a period of time in which they have rested and regained their strength. Unlike you, daughter who are immortal and immune to physical ills.

"Also one more thing. Alexandria has a sister. A twin. They have become estranged due to the sister's selfish behavior which resulted in a dissolution of Alexandria's romantic relationship. The sister lives on the other side of the body of water known as the Atlantic Ocean, in a place called, London England. You must always be on watch for this one as she is quite capable of stirring up much trouble," she warned her.

"Now my dear, that is all," Eos said and she was dismissed abruptly."You must go and prepare yourself for your journey."

Thalia walked to the archway. "But Mother, what if the child is a female? And what will happen to the babe once it is born?" she asked confused.

"The child will be a male, as the Prophecy has revealed to us. As soon as the child is born, you will return to Titania and the babe will live his life on earth. He will be superior to most humans as he will be half Titan. So far, through the ages, our missions have produced hundreds of superior mortals, thereby assuring the proliferation of our part of the kingdom. Mortals from Kings, Queens, U.S. Presidents, Stage and Screen performers, musicians, writers, scientists, well the list goes on. People with superior intelligence, great talent and creative genius have been produced because of our unions. You yourself my daughter was produced out of one of those unions. When I met your father Orion and mated with him, you were the result of that union. However you lost your earthly life at the young age of 20 which is the age you are today in earth years..

Thalia had known that part as her Mother had explained about her Father thousands of years ago shortly after she arrived here. Orion had been a great huntsman, but after he met and fell in love with her Mother Eos, he was transformed into a star constellation by the jealous Artemis, (also known as Diana, the Archer) twin sister of Apollo.

"Now go my daughter," Eos said, "for if you had paid attention in your Current History class I would not have to be sitting here explaining all of this to you."

Thalia flushed and then bowed and as she turned to go, her Mother said, "Wait my child!"

Thalia turned back and saw her Mother walk over to a box sitting on a pedestal stand against the wall. Opening the box Eos removed a parchment.

She held it out as Thalia hurried over and took it from her hand. "It is additional information regarding the mission and you must read this very carefully and memorize it. Then sign it and return it to me."

Eos went back over to the window as Thalia turned then and left the citadel running down the stairs. At the bottom she held up the parchment and read:

Mission: The Adonis Mission

Target: Alexandria (Alexis) Isabella Grey

Place of Origin: York, Maine, United States of America

Mortal: Bon V Johnson(Professional name: Bon Vincent)

Place of Origin: Long Island, New York, United States of America

Instructions: Perform the Amalgamate Ritual on the target, then find the mortal male and mate with him for the purpose of producing a male offspring.

Length of Mission: 365 earth days.

Mission End: Upon delivery of the male offspring.

As Thalia walked across the large expanse of green lawn she wondered about the mortal, Bon V Johnson. Thalia realized he must be quite a man indeed to have been chosen by the Immortals to receive this tremendous gift.

Quickly then she headed back to her chambers....

****

A short period of time later, Thalia hurried towards her Mother's citadel once again. Eos was coming down the long wide staircase.

Thalia was wearing a long draped scarf like robe over her body and nothing else.

As Eos stepped off the staircase, together Mother and daughter walked around the building across a large expanse of lawn and gardens, heading towards the Sea of Tranquility.

"Do you have the document?" Eos asked as they walked. Thalia opened a pocket in her robe and removed the rolled up document. She handed it to her Mother who placed it inside her own bag.

They were going to visit Kronos who lived on the other side of the sea. The sea of tranquility separated Titania from Olympia and all the vast universe. It had been created by the Olympian Gods, after they overthrew the Titans, back thousands of years ago. The sea was at that time created as a barrier and wasn't called the Sea of Tranquility. It was called The Valley of Transformation erected between two walls of mountains and was controlled by the Father of the Olympian Gods, Zeus. Any Titan who tried crossing the valley, would be instantly transformed into a star or star system.

However 1000 earth years after it was created, much of the hostility and hatred the two races had for one another had dissipated. Old grudges and wounds finally healed, and new friendships and bonds were created. Both races were enemies no longer, in fact were working together and so the Sea of Transformation became the Sea of Tranquility. The valley had been flooded with water by Poseidon who had then ruled over it for a couple of thousand years then but then grew bored and handed it over into the control of Amphitrite the Sea Goddess, his wife.

Arriving at the shimmering sea's shoreline, a small boat sat waiting. Eos and Thalia climbed inside the boat, and without doing anything the boat then started across the sea.

"But Mother why are we traveling this way?" Thalia asked looking a bit confused.

"I realize my dear," Eos answered, "that it is a bit old fashioned. We could have just thought ourselves to the other side as usual. But some of us like to keep the old ways. It's comforting and brings back memories of our time on earth," her Mother finished.

Thalia stared out at the shimmering teal blue water, thinking how beautiful and serene it was. Just then circles upon the water appeared close to their boat. Then suddenly as the two Goddesses watched something started rising out of the water. It was a woman with long pale silvery hair, vivid sea green eyes and creamy white skin. She wore a necklace of sea shells threaded over her hair. Rising up she was naked except for a covering over her breasts. As she rose, silvery iridescent scales appeared and her body became that of a mermaid. The woman continued to rise until she was balancing on the water with the very bottom of her tail fins which curled up above the water.

Then waving her hand, her bottom half suddenly changed into long creamy white legs. She was touching the surface with her toes and then, dropping her heels, she stood upon the calm water.

"Hello Goddess Eos," the woman said in greeting.

"Amphitrite! Good to see you, sister," Eos replied.

"I see you are taking the child to Kronos," Amphitrite said. "Let's hope the Adonis Mission will be a success at long last," she said staring at Thalia.

"Yes, I have a good feeling this time," Eos said. "I think all the elements are in place to assure that the prophecy will come true. Long live Titania!" Eos said crossing her heart with her arm held against her chest.

The Sea Goddess said, 'And long live Olympia!" Then she bid them safe journey and waved her hand as her bottom half changed into the mermaid body and she slowly slipped back into the depths of the sea.

As the boat closed the remaining distance over the water it came to rest finally on the shore. Eos and Thalia climbed out and found themselves in front of a shimmering wall of fog like substance, stretching sideways and above as far as the eye could see. It was known as the Veil of Mist.

The doorway into Olympia....

* * *

Eos walked towards the veil and then turned and said, "Come child, don't be afraid." Thalia had never been in this part of the Other World system, but trusting her Mother she slowly walked forward.

"It's just mist," Eos told her and stepped through the veil. Thalia followed and felt coolness touch her body and then abruptly she was on the other side.

Before them lay a well manicured expanse of lawn with various trees and shrubbery. A well worn path led from the wall of mist to a large white mansion with a backdrop of a forest behind it. Eos and Thalia walked down the path and as they got closer to the house, Thalia noticed an old man pruning some roses that climbed up a trellis at the front of the house. He had dark silver streaked shoulder length hair and was wearing baggy rolled up trousers, and a short sleeved T shirt.

However as the women drew closer, something about the old man didn't look quite right. Then Thalia realized what it was. He really didn't look like an old man as he had the body of a much younger man with muscle and definition.

The man turned as the women walked over to him and Thalia had a jolt when the man turned around. He had quiet grey blue eyes trimmed in turquoise and was quite handsome for a middle aged man.

"Eos!" the man greeted the Goddess setting down his shears. "And you must be Thalia." He stepped over a shrub and joined them. As the women greeted him, he said, "You'll have to excuse my appearance, I didn't expect you until later, but I guess I lost track of time!" He laughed then at his pun, as he WAS the keeper of time.

"But I thought," Thalia began.

"You thought what?" Kronos asked. "You thought I would be much older?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye. "Actually you caught me in between projects," he told her. "Normally when I'm not working on a time project, I tend to choose the image of myself at 48." He then said, 'Why don't we go inside and I'll have my wife Rhea make us some moonbeam tea."

They went inside and a lovely young woman with light brown hair and amber eyes greeted them and led them into Kronos's large study. Thalia looked around and saw there were moving blocks of pictures on two infinitely long walls of the room. She looked at them, noticing that there were mortal men and women going about their daily lives on the earth. However others that she examined showed earth in it's ancient times, and she saw Titans, Olympians and other Greek and Roman officials and common people. There were other races as well.

Then her eye caught one block which showed two beautiful women. She walked closer and was startled when she recognized one of them as herself! She was nude except for a thick long scarf like robe that draped over each of her arms and then dropped to the floor behind. It was the very robe she was wearing now. Her back was to the viewer and she was naked beneath the robe.

Another woman with thick long dark hair who was also naked, was kneeling. Suddenly brilliant light flashed between the women and then misty threads of something was pulled from the image of herself and floated towards the kneeling woman and as that happened her image slowly disappeared.

Kronos walked over and pressed an invisible button. "You just saw yourself performing the Almalgamate ritual on your host, my dear," he said to a rather confused Thalia. So that was how it was done she thought.

"But how can I be seeing it now, when it hasn't happened yet?" she asked Kronos looking at him confused.

Kronos sighed as he had been asked this thousands of times before and it was a bit confusing to some of the immortals even. "Oh but it HAS happened already, "Kronos told her. "Right now it is in the future, an event that has already taken place."

"But if it's already taken place," Thalia said, "then why do I need to even go?" She was very confused.

"Because," Kronos told her, "If you do not go, it will be erased from time, never having happened."

Seeing her further confusion as she struggled to understand this concept, Kronos said, "Don't spend too much time my dear trying to figure out how time works, as it is confusing to many people, immortals among them as well."

Then he reached out and pressed another button on the same image block. Suddenly they were looking at a room in a house. A man with golden blond hair sat behind a large wooden table. The man had his head in his hands and then suddenly a device that had been laying on the desk made a series of sounds and the man put his head up. His blue eyes looked sad and mournful. His face was whiskered and his hair rather unkempt. He wore an upper garment which showed his muscular shoulders and neck, something white. The white garment however looked dingy and soiled.

The man placed the device to his ear. "Hey Rye," he said.

"Who is that man?" Thalia asked Kronos. Eos spoke up then. "That is the mortal man, that you and your host will seek, John Francis Bongiovi."

Thalia not being able to help herself, said, "But I thought the mortal was supposed to be handsome?"

Both Kronos and Eos laughed briefly and Eos said, "He is my child. He looks rather in a dreadful state right now though doesn't her?" Thalia nodded her head yes.

Eos continued saying, "His rather unkempt shabby look is due to his depression and loneliness. This is why after you meld with your target host you both need to make him aware of Alexandria without haste."

The image showed the man closing the device and setting it back on the table. And then he put his head back in his hands again.

Thalia felt feelings that were hard to define. Her face must have reflected this.

Eos said, "Child, what is it? Your face looks very strange to me right now."

Kronos said, "She is feeling sadness for the mortal man." Her mother looked amazed upon hearing that.

So this is what sadness was like, Thalia thought. She didn't much like it and Kronos noticing placed his hand on her temple and the feeling faded.

Kronos pressed the button again and another image came on the screen. It showed a still image of a young man whose physical beauty was near perfection. "This is your target when he was thirty years of age, in earth time," Kronos told her.

Thalia stared, realizing at last why the mission had been named as such. For the man rivaled the most beautiful of Gods, Adonis himself.

Then Kronos flicked the button again and another image appeared next to it. "This is him at age forty," he said. The passing of time had little effect on his beauty, Thalia thought admiring the second image on the screen as much as the first.

Kronos said, "And finally, here is a different view exactly six months ago in earth time." A moving image showed the man singing and playing a musical instrument called a guitar. Thalia remembered learning about it from her Musical History class. This time the man was smiling and his face and form were delightful. He was absolutely breathtakingly handsome and as he sang, his voice was husky and the tones quite pleasant Thalia thought. The man exuded a sexual magnetism and Thalia felt a quiver somewhere beneath her belly. Kronos pressed a final button then and the block went black.

Then Rhea came into the room and took them into a sitting room and set about serving them moonbeam tea and tiny cakes. Thalia had never had moonbeam tea and wondered about it. She looked into her cup and saw a swirling white mist much like the veil they had passed through on the way to Kronos's estate. There were tiny dots of light glimmering and twinkling off and on. She sipped it and found it had a wonderful light taste that reminded her of vanilla bean and rose petal and something else which she couldn't define.

Soon it was time to go. The women said goodbye to Rhea and Kronos then took them back into his study again. He walked over to a door at the other end of the room as the women followed. Opening the door he held it for them as they entered.

Thalia looked around. There were no walls to the room. They were on a floor which resembled a sea of crystal glass and stood staring out at the universe. Planets moved and turned, stars twinkled here and there. Nebulae clouds clustered in various parts of the sky and shimmered while stray shooting stars blazed across the brilliantly colored canvas that was the realm of the outer world. At the farthermost edge of the glass floor there were five rough hewn steps carved into granite rock. At the top of the stairs stood a platform which held a large cylinder shaped object. The object's interior flickered and blazed with swirling light.

Kronos said, pointing to it, "There is the portal to earth. I have set the coordinates to take you to earth in the month of July, the year 2007. Once you enter the portal it will immediately transfer you to the home of your target host. The time will be 1:00 a.m. Eastern time by earth time and your target should be sleeping.

Thalia remembered the moving image she had seen. "But in the image I saw, she was awake and kneeling," Thalia said.

"Once you appear inside of her room, she will awaken it's true," Kronos told her. "But then you must immediately perform the ritual without haste."

"It must happen within 60 seconds of earth time," her Mother interjected.

Then Eos hugged her youngest daughter saying, " Remember you have 365 earth days to complete your mission. I wish you much success, my daughter. May Zeus go with you child."

Kronos held out his hand, fist closed. Thalia reached out hers and Kronos told her to open her hand, which she did. He placed a small object in the center of her palm. It was a tiny hourglass the size of her thumb. Then he walked over to the stairs and mounted them and at the top he turned. Suddenly his appearance had abruptly changed. He was younger now, and very handsome. His hair was long and black and he now wore a flowing black gown with a hooded silver, red lined cape and held a large hourglass in his hand.

"If you ever need my assistance, simply direct your thoughts to the hourglass and tell it to alert me. It will turn itself upside down signaling me and I will immediately appear to you," he told her.

"But won't that make my host suspicious?" Thalia asked as she and her Mother walked over to the stairs.

"I am the controller of time," Kronos answered with a slight smile. "I will stop time briefly which will not allow her to see me," he told Thalia then said, "Now you must go! May your mission be successful and long live Titania and the Realm!" The two Goddesses echoed him and then hugged each other.

Thalia, looked at the both of them briefly, then slowly walked past the keeper of time, up the stairs and stood before the portal. Gathering her courage she stepped through the opening as a spinning vortex of various multicolored beams of light surrounded her and in the blink of the eye she disappeared from the view of the two watching in the room.....

* * *

Thalia was in darkness and then suddenly saw a spot of light which grew bigger and then the light expanded into walls, a floor and other objects.

She realized she was in a chamber. She knew it was the sleeping room of her host.

Placing the tiny hourglass on the floor behind her in the dark corner, as soon as she set it down and it left her hand, she realized that Kronos had created an invisibility effect, as the tiny hourglass disappeared then. She heard Krono's voice say to her, "Don't worry it will perform it's function when you need it to."

Then Thalia looked towards the bed and saw a woman lying on her back on top of a covering. She was naked and her thick lustrous dark hair was spread out around her head on her pillow. The sleeping woman sensing something, suddenly sat and and then clambered to her knees. Staring over at Thalia, the woman's face looked fearful as she asked with a trembling voice, "Who are you? What are you doing in my house?"

Thalia recited the words quickly that would start the ritual and the other woman froze suddenly as her eyes closed and her head went back. Thalia's body started to turn into slivery shimmering strands of light and the shimmery strands reached out and hit the kneeling woman in her chest. In less than 45 seconds Thalia had disappeared and had entered her host. The robe fell to the floor and glowed briefly, then it too disappeared.

Alexandria dropped to the bed then and fell into a deep sleep.....