Artemis found herself being pestered once more that evening. There had been a lull in her recollections of him ages ago, and she had enjoyed relaxing with her hunters through the day, and unto the evening with no worries or duties to attend to.
She grinned wryly to herself. Of course, kids interrupt all times of relaxation.
"My Lady!" Mara said, "Can you continue your story?" Mara, along with some of the younger hunters were sparring. But they had stopped at the question.
She paused from her lounging position on the grassy ground. "All right then, gather round." There was a chorus of shouts from the hunters, and Mara shot straight over, along with the other younger hunters. Artemis felt herself laugh as she saw Phoebe and Zoe come out of their tents at the noise too.
Zoe saw her gaze, and shrugged with a grin.
The hunters all settled themselves in their now familiar positions around the hearth. Artemis watched them all, as shadows began to form across the campsite, marking the sun setting. The sky was a brilliant yellow, orange and, red tonight, and Artemis wondered how long into the night this would go.
'There is so much to tell… so many adventures where we would watch the sun set for years.' She thought dimly.
"My Lady, what happened after you were banished?" Zoe spoke calmly, sitting next to Phoebe.
Artemis shook her head. "Right, sorry. Although I didn't know it at the time, I had been blasted off Olympus by Zeus's Master Bolt."
There was a collection of groans. "Did it hurt?" Sarah spoke up.
Artemis felt herself drifting off into her memories, "Indeed… it did hurt."
There was a blinding blue light, and the next thing Artemis felt was a coursing electrifying pain in her chest, and the full moon overhead her. She immediately gasped, clutching her chest. Lying flat on her back, Artemis tested her limbs. All fine. But as she gently probed a hand on her chest, a bolt of pain coursed through her, and she hissed. Her silver dress tunic had felt charred. Carefully lifting her head, she confirmed this, seeing a large burned area on the front of her tunic. It was still miraculously intact, but then she saw why.
Her bow had been strapped to her back, but it had taken the brunt of whatever hit her, and was now two pieces of mangled charred wood on either side of her. She still had her quiver, a small wriggle of her shoulders confirmed that.
'What happened?' Artemis asked herself, but she knew, in the back of her mind.
"Fathe…." She tried to shout, groaning midway through her exclamation as her chest spasmed in pain. That complicated things.
It took her awhile, but she found her feet, and finally stood up to get her bearings. Looking around, there were darkened trees, halted by a clearing which she stood in, which had a small boulder at the center. She almost laughed at the absurdity of it.
"You dare send me here!" Artemis said loudly, looking up to the sky. There was no reply. Artemis gave a contemptuous snort. She felt healthy enough. The pain in her chest was already starting to ebb away. She snapped her fingers, to transform into a hawk, to get out of the forest she been in earlier today.
Nothing happened.
It was with a sickening horror that she realized that her powers were gone. Her senses. She twirled her hands, concentrating on her beautiful silver hunting knives. Her weapons. All mortal. All around her, she felt darkness closing in. there were shadows amongst the trees, and only the clearing was well lit from the moon.
She panicked, turning around continuously. Her vision seemed to cloudy, she could hear nothing, the very air seemed to slow her down. Her vision spun, and she was forced to lean on the rock for support. Zeus, her Father had condemned her to this. 'He isn't my father any longer.' She thought darkly, catching her breath, which she was surprised about. When was the last time she had been tired?
'Is this what mortals feel like all the time?' Artemis thought desperately. Her powers… gone, she wasn't a Goddess. Not anymore. The thought struck her like a thunderbolt, sending her mind staggering. She would have to earn her place on Olympus back, that much she knew. Hurriedly thinking back to the Winter Solstice meeting on Mount Olympus, she desperately tried to remember what Zeus had said. With a shock, she realized that it was distorted, without clarity. All her senses seemed to be impaired. A foggy series of images and voices flooded her mind, of Zeus calling for her banishment, the vote… 'Who voted for me?' Artemis rubbed her hands into her temples. Then it came to her: Hera…Ares…Aphrodite…Dionysus…Zeus… Artemis scowled up to the sky and the twinkling stars, "Curse you Father! You others have no reason to quarrel with me!"
There was no reply.
For hours, as Artemis judged from the passing moon, she sat against the rock, invariably standing, and pacing the clearing, testing her strengths. No power came to her. Her connection to the Wild, the Moon, were gone. That much was clear. She went over Zeus's words in her mind, before she was forcibly banished to this forsaken clearing in the edges of Mount Olympus's influence. 'Banished to walk amoung the Macedonian Expedition…' She mused, before cursing darkly. It was only too easy to see her conniving Father's plan. As a mortal, or at least in mortal form, she could not be worshipped. Power gained would go to Zeus, the King of the Gods.
That set her off again, and after she had cursed Zeus's name and legacies another tenfold, Artemis realized that her vision was darkening and her limbs were growing increasingly unresponsive. Looking down in amazement, she then felt herself blink rapidly, before a clammy feeling rolled up the back of her throat. She yawned. Yawned! It was with this thought that she slumped down next to the rock in the clearing, and felt her eyes drift shut into a dreamless sleep.
"I can't believe it… Lady Artemis, you were mortal for a time!" Elizabeth exclaimed.
"Yes… I was, and I do not plan to do so again. My time in that form taught me how I missed my immortal life." That was certainly true, as she recalled the horrors and battles she fought without her godly powers. In a way, it was revolutionary for her, to rely solely on her own abilities without divine augmentation.
Artemis noticed that some of her hunters looked a little uneasy at this, and made sure to clarify her statement, "It also taught me how to appreciate all things in life. From the smallest plant to the entire vast world around us." And him, she silently finished. Before her thoughts could trail back again to their adventures, she hurriedly continued her story, before her hunters could ask any more questions.
"The next thing I remembered, was waking up in that clearing, already late morning, with his face looking down on me."
Phoebe snorted, giving Artemis pause, "My Lady, I hope you punched him."
Artemis frowned.
Artemis groaned and felt her eyes opening, squinting against a sudden brightness that exploded across her vision. 'Since when did she have to squint?' A sudden shadow overcame the blinding light, and it took a few seconds to recognize a voice, and the face of Perseus, standing right above her. He was frowning, brows furrowed in a worried manner, looking down at her with deep calculating green eyes.
She instinctively shot her fist up, striking him on the side of his nose. It connected with a sickening crack, and he instantly stumbled backwards, clutching his nose, "Ow! Dios Immortales! What was that for Lady Artemis!?"
She quickly scrambled to her feet, shaking her head from the bright clouds and blue sky above. As she rose, she felt the quiver of arrows being tossed in their fur casing, although with the dull thud as her mangled bow hit the ground. She dimly noticed that it was morning, with the sun risen far into the sky, with its warmth making the forest around them glow with life. Two foreign feelings came to her. Dizziness, as if Gaia herself was shaking the very ground below her, and a throbbing pain in her hand.
But she paid those no heed, for the time being. While she wouldn't have admitted it, her fear and anger boiled over, exploding outwards to express, anything, to anyone.
"That was for all the misery you've caused me boy! Your devious ways led to me, an Olympian Goddess, to the level of your insignificance! Having been given the chance, I should have disintegrated you the moment I laid eyes upon you!" Artemis screamed, every ounce of her being tearing to feel… anything. Anything within her of her true Goddess form.
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Don't forget to throw some power Stones, to keep the story going.
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