Illia gasped as she came to her senses, struggling to catch her breath. She sat in a dimly lit room, cold, packed earth beneath her. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the lack of light as she took in her surroundings.
"Hello?" She called out tentatively, pushing herself to her feet. "Is anyone there?"
There was a musty hint to the already stuffy air, and she fought back a gag.
"Hel-" The girl began to call out again before she was silenced by another presence in the room.
A hooded figure sat a few feet away from her, almost hidden by the darkness.
"Who are you?" She called out cautiously, the words scraping along her dry throat. She dug her shaking fingers deep into the palms of her hand, wincing as old cuts were reopened, but surprisingly, no pain came.
A deep laugh echoed throughout the space, the ancient sound dancing off the walls.
"Hello, my child"
The girl's eyes widened, as she stumbled back. But before any words could come out of her mouth, everything went black.
"Illia, get up." A voice hissed quietly, shaking her awake.
"Wha-"
"Wake up!" Illia cracked her eyes open, dark eyes staring back at her.
"Ugh, why did you wake me up so early?" She protested, getting a small glimpse of the moon gleaming outside her tent.
The copper-skinned girl who was leaning above her stood up, a frown on her normally neutral expression.
"Thy was shaking." She replied simply, exiting into the cold night air. She turned back to the lighter skinned girl who was rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "You woke me up."
"Sorry," she muttered, standing up with a groan, stretching slightly. "What time is it anyway?"
She tilted her head up to the starry sky, her dark hair framing her face. "The moon is at its highest."
Illia nodded, deciphering from her friend's strange dialect.
Midnight, great.
"Why were you up?" Zoë let out a small snort, tossing a roll of gauze towards her.
She raised an eyebrow. "What is this for?"
Zoë rolled her eyes, pointing to Illia's hands. She then noticed an almost damp feeling before looking down.
Way to go Illia.
Her palms had four crescent-shaped slits lining the crease of her hands, with beads of blood slowly creeping their way to her wrists.
Her flushed cheeks hidden in the moonlight, she quickly wrapped her hands, not caring if they were too tight.
"That still occurs?" Zoë questioned as she sat on the cool earth of where the hunters had decided to put up camp, thumbing through an assortment of arrows next to her.
"I guess so." She shrugged, trying to shake off her dream. She glanced at the teen to her right out of the corner of her eye. "You didn't answer my question."
The darker haired girl frowned, not looking Illia in the eyes. "You weren't the only one who had an unpleasurable dream."
Illia let out a silent 'oh', before sitting beside her. She knew her friend had a troubled past, but not one that she chose to talk about frequently. Part of her knew that her few 14 years were only a fraction of Zoë's thousands, but she never brought it up. Zoë was her closest friend in the hunters, the rest of the girls choosing to keep their distance from her.
She absentmindedly fiddled with her already falling apart braid, the loose auburn curls circling her rounded face.
The conversation faded to silence as the two sat under the moon, both caught up in their own thoughts, only interrupted by another person exiting their tent.
A young girl stepped out of the tent, her silvery-yellow eyes gleaming in the twilight. Even after all these years Illia never really wrapped her mind around the fact that the young girl, albeit beautiful one was really a goddess.
"Lady Artemis." Zoë dipped her head in respect to the goddess as she took a seat next to the two, Illia doing the same.
"Illia, Zoë, what are you doing up at this hour?"
"Dreams." The two responded simultaneously, Illia refusing to meet the goddesses gaze.
"Ah," Artemis nodded. "I see. Anything you would want to discuss?"
They both shook their heads.
"Alright," She stifled a small laugh. "I'm heading out to scout the area, and since you all are up," the young huntress sat up, her silver bow materializing out of the air. "I thought you would like to come with me."
Zoë nodded. "Of course, my lady." Illia nodded as well, a small sinking feeling lingering in the back of her mind.
I should be thrilled, shouldn't I?
She soon felt the tensions of her dream fade away as she wandered through the moonlit forest, the sounds of the earth calming her nerves.
"Is everything alright?" Artemis' voice sounded behind her, the huntresses eyes filled with worry.
"Yeah," Illia shrugged. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Artemis sighed, her eyes wandering around the landscape. "You seem troubled."
The teen sighed, wringing her hands through her hair.
"That night, when you found me-"
"Illia." Artemis sighed, turning to her. "I've told you the story thousands of times."
"I know, but…" She trailed off, staring down at her feet.
"I know you want to find out about your parents," Artemis began. "But there's more to you than where you came from."
She sighed as she massaged her palms. "In my dream, there was a woman." Illia started cautiously, watching Artemis' eyes light up in interest.
"Go on."
"I didn't really get a quick glimpse of her, but she was there, with long robes."
The girl beside her stiffened. "I see."
"She called me 'her child'"
Artemis sighed, abruptly stopping their pace. "Illia, we don't know if that means anything-"
"I know, I know, it's just sometimes, gods visit their children in dreams, right?" She could feel her sense of hope breaking through her tone. "Maybe she was trying to contact me."
"You shouldn't get your hopes up Illia." She responded, placing a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "I'm sure the time will come."
"Yeah." She murmured quietly. "I'm sure it will."
Before the silence between the two could clear, a loud snapping sound caught the two's attention.
A copper-skinned girl barged through the trees, her dark eyes wide with alarm.
"Lady Artemis," Zoë breathed, "We have an altercation."
The hunters raced through the trees, the snow and chilly wind viciously whipping at Illia's face. Of course, she had fought various monsters before, but nothing seemed as bad as this. Anything that was enough to shake Artemis was something that she wasn't looking forward to meeting.
Her shaking hands wrapped around a silver bow, she continued to run through the woods, various branches smacking her as she blocked out the pain. Thankfully, Zoë had alerted the other few girls before she stumbled upon Artemis, the group of girls joining the two.
They finally arrived in a small clearing in the forest, with a cliff overlooking swirling moonlit waters. A black helicopter was hovering above six humanoid figures and a monstrous-looking beast, the chopping sounds of the blades deafening.
The familiar sound of a horn pierced through the helicopter's sound, as the monster turned to face the group.
"It cannot be-"
Before he could finish his sentence a silvery arrow flashed through the night, piercing the beast's shoulder.
Now that she had a better look, she could vaguely make out the figures. The beast had a large body of a lion, but with a seemingly human face. Scattered around the clearing was a girl and a boy around the same age as her, as well as a slightly older girl with cropped black hair, with a large glittering shield. Two more people stood slightly farther away, a small boy looking frightened and what seemed to be his sister, with a half goat half teen standing with them.
The beast let out a wail of agony, staggering backward into the snow.
"C-Curse you." The beast stammered.
Illia's eyebrows raised in shock as spikes flew into the woods where they were hiding, missing the side of her head by an inch.
Almost immediately she raised her bow, firing towards the monster, the sound of arrows piercing through the night filling her ears.
One of the figures around her age tried to lunge at the manticore, his broadsword glowing in the moonlight. The beast easily dodged his attack, his large tail slamming into his shield, the boy knocked away like a ragdoll, his dark hair in contrast to the snow.
Apon Artemis' signal, Illia sprung out of the woods alongside the rest of the hunters, her gaze narrowed as she advanced towards the monster.
"The Hunters!" One of the figures my age gasped, her stormy grey eyes wide in surprise.
"Oh, wonderful." The girl with cropped black hair muttered sarcastically.
Zoë stepped forwards. "Permission to kill, my lady?" She questioned, keeping her eyes locked on the injured manticore.
Before Artemis could reply the monster let out a wail. "This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient laws!"
"Not so." Artemis stepped out from the crowd, her ponytail swaying in the wind. Her expression stern, she glared at the beast. "The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. And you, foul creature, are a wild beast."
She glanced back towards Zoë. "Zoë, permission granted."
The manticore let out a deep grow, his two-toned eyes flickering in the moonlight. "Fine. If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead!"
Illia watched the beast leap at the boy with the glowing sword and the older girl, with bated breath. Every ounce of her wanted to help them, but she knew Artemis wouldn't allow it.
"No!" The blond haired girl yelled as she charged towards the manticore.
"Get back, half-blood," Zoë commanded, the wind tousling her dark hair. "Get out of the line of fire!"
Not listening to her, the girl leaped onto the monster's back, stabbing a glistening knife into his mane. The beast howled in response, desperately trying to throw off the girl.
I can't tell if that was stupid or brave.
"Fire!" Zoë ordered as she readied her bow, Illia doing the same. The black haired boy desperately yelled out for them to stop, but it was too late. She watched in satisfaction as her arrow punctured the manticore's chest, causing him to stagger backward.
"This is not the end, Huntress!" He wailed. "You shall pay!" With that, the beast leaped off the cliff with the blond haired girl still dangling off his back.
"Annabeth!" The darker haired boy yelled as he began to run towards the cliff, but was stopped by the sound of gunfire.
The black attack helicopter began to fire towards them, most of the huntresses scattering as bullets dented the snow. Among the chaos, Illia desperately searched for Artemis, trying to dodge as many bullets as she could.
Artemis was steadfast, looking up at the helicopter with a calm expression.
"Mortals are not allowed to witness my hunt." With a flick of her wrist, the black helicopter dissolved into a flock of pitch black ravens, which scattered into the night.
Looking around for a signal from the remaining huntresses, Illia began to cautiously advance towards the group of children.
Zoë stopped abruptly when she saw the older girl, recognition flashing in her eyes. "You."
"Zoë Nightshade." The girl responded, her voice shaking with anger. "Perfect timing, as usual."
Zoë put on a calm face, glancing around to the rest of the group. "Four half-bloods and a satyr, my lady."
Illia gasped. Half-bloods, no wonder the manticore was after them.
"Ah yes," Artemis nodded. "Some of Chiron's campers, I see."
"Annabeth!" The boy yelled, his voice cracking with sadness. "You have to let us save her!"
"I'm sorry Percy Jackson, but your friend is beyond help." Artemis frowned with sadness in her tone.
The boy tried to race towards the cliff, a few of the hunters close to him holding him back.
Zoë's dark eyes gleamed with anger as she stepped towards the boy. Illia winced, knowing what would likely come next.
Before Zoë's hand collided with the boy's face, Artemis stopped her. "No." Artemis commanded. "I sense no disrespect, Zoë. He is simply distraught. He does not understand."
Zoë clenched her jaw, stepping backward. Artemis turned her eyes to the boy, her gaze cold. "I am Artemis," she stated. "Goddess of the Hunt."
And there's the first chapter! I hope you all enjoyed :)
So I've been planning on something like this for a lil bit, so I finally decided to bring it to life! In this story I'll be following canon pretty closely (I know this chapter seemed a little too close to the original, but that's because Illia hasn't really had a chance to have a bigger role in the story, that will change in the future :D), but I will have to edit a few things like prophecies and such, but none of the major events will change. My goal for the story is that although there are some changes because there is another character in the story, most of the bigger parts in the series still have the same outcome (i.e everybody who dies in the main series will still die.)
Anyway, just thought I'd get that lil bit out there, but I'm really excited to continue writing!
Until next time,
-snoot