Ravenna, Goddess of Art & Mystery
By: Rijuta Gohil
My name is Ravenna and I am fifteen years old, in god years. I am the Greek Goddess of Art and Mystery . I am not like my parents, who still say stuff like ‘thou’ or ‘thee’. I am a 21st century god (and modern, thank you very much). I have the power to become invisible and to be artsy. This is the myth of me and crop circles. You see, crop circles are mysterious designs and intricate patterns on a field of crops. Of course you mortals have no idea who makes them but now I shall tell you. So let's begin the story of of the crop circles:
_____________________________________2000, Mount Olympus_________________________________
“Rise, Ravenna, daughter of Aphrodite and Hephaestus, Goddess of Arts and Mystery!” my grandfather, king of the gods, God of the Skies, Zeus boomed. I rose, beaming for I had just been made an official member of the gods. Sure, I was born a god, blah, blah, etc., etc. but today, I was officially recognized. My parents smiled at me. ‘Being a god is going to be so much fun,’ I thought, very excited, as everyone congratulated me.
______________________________________A year later________________________________________
‘Being a god is very boring,’ I decided, mentally (because I didn’t want to be blown into bits by Grandpa). I didn’t have anything to do. I decided to turn on Hephaestus’s Hologram (a special type of Olympian television that is 3D) to keep myself busy. Bored, I flipped the channels until one caught my eye. It was a full green area of crops with no gaps or anything. My artsy and mischievous side got the better of me and I decided to have a little fun with the mortals.
I thought, ‘Why not bring art into that poor field’s life? I bet, if it was alive, it would be grateful to be very pretty and artsy.’ And with that my mind was made. I giggled to myself. But to get to Earth, I first needed to get past everyone on Mount Olympus. And of course tonight, the gods decided to throw a party again so everyone was still awake. I couldn’t afford to get caught. Last time I messed with mortals was when I decided to go to Earth and act like a normal mortal. But I almost got killed by a hellhound and so I had to use my super-duper god powers to save myself. Unfortunately someone almost caught me and Grandpa refused to let me ever visit Earth until I was eighteen. But can you blame me? I was bored because all they do in Olympus is yell at each other (especially Aunt Athena and Grandpa Poseidon) or do diplomatic stuff. I am fifteen for gods sake, not 556 like the gods (they probably are older). I jumped out from my window and landed softly on the grass. I decided to sneak around the party. As I moved stealthily, I noticed that party was loud and cheerful. ‘Well no need to worry,’ I thought. ‘They are never going to notice me.’ And with that, I stopped trying to sneak around and just walked like a normal person, not some human-cat hybrid.
Since it was night, I knew no mortal would see me, so I flew down to a farmland just like the one I had seen on Hephaestus’s Hologram. I quickly began to work. Using my amazing artsy powers, I made a pattern by flattening the crops, to create a work of art. It was a beautiful design and it looked amazing. Soon, Apollo decided to finally get up (he’s always late and usually rides the sun chariot while brushing. “I need my beauty sleep,” is his excuse!) and ride his sun chariot. I turned invisible just as the mortal farmer came out. He decided to take a walk and check on his crops. When he got to my design, his mouth dropped open. His eyes bugged out and he stared at the crops for a very, very long time.. I was really tempted to say “Take a picture, it’ll last longer.”
Then all of a sudden, he got back into action. He ran back to his house, screaming, “ALIENS! JANE, ALIENS HAVE STOLEN OUR CROPS! QUICKLY, CALL THE FBI!” I doubled over, laughing. Aliens were the answer to all these mortals’ mysterious phenomena. Pretty soon, the FBI arrived, in their fancy cars and helicopters. Things were getting very interesting so I decided to become invisible to get closer in on the action .
The leader of the FBI started walking back to his helicopter and was speaking to-wait, was that the President? Yep, he was speaking to the President of the United States. Thanks to my sensitive ears, I could hear what they were saying.
“Sir, it’s best that we cover this up! I mean, patterns on crops? It is absurd. It’s not made by bugs and it isn’t man made! People will immediately think of aliens. That would blow our cover of Area 51!” exclaimed the leader FBI agent. Area 51 was a place where the government kept ‘alien stuff’ in. Actually, it was just a bunch of Hephaestus’s work that got stolen and lost by me (whoops!). You can’t blame. His stuff is really cool but it’s hard to keep safe.
“No, the countrymen should hear of this!” the President retorted. ‘Finally, someone who isn’t dimwitted and knows that there is no such thing as aliens,’ I thought. The FBI agent’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.
“It is not wise. Fine, let’s just tell the reporters to not make a big deal of it.” the FBI agent relented. The President nodded. I decided it was time for me to go. I quickly became invisible and teleported back to Olympus. I giggled. ‘That was so much fun!’ I thought. ‘I won’t even get caught!’ And that’s how my obsession with crop circles began.
_________________________________Present Day, Mount Olympus_______________________________
For the past years, I have been making crop circles in the randomest places and at the randomest times. It is actually quite fun. So you see, it isn’t aliens at all. Just me, Ravenna, the Greek fifteen year old Goddess of Arts and Mystery. So, mortal-who-is-reading-this, you are the first person to know about this secret of mine. I would appreciate it, if you kept it a secret. Otherwise, 1) Grandpa Zeus would be very mad, and 2) I will get very bored. I hope you had fun discovering the secrets to the crop circles. This is the end of the myth of me, Ravenna, the Goddess of Art and Mystery, and my relationship with crop circles.
THE END
