Memento Mori

by Eldewind Dolly

"Death is never late, but when it arrives earlier... what happens ?" In order to save one of his only friends, Artemis makes one of his biggest mistakes, and unintentionally introduce his friends to the most feared and mysterious of worlds : the world of the deads... Will his mind and the People's magic be able to save them, or will his untold guilt be stronger ? Set after TTP.

1. Prologue

Hello everyone !
For those who don't know me, my name is Eldewind Dolly. I tell you now, I'm French and I'll have to translate each of my chapters from my native language to English before I can publish, so it'll probably be long breaks between each update, I apologize for that... I promise I'll do my best !
This story is a re-writing of my first AF fanfiction, L'Ordalie, published long ago in a french fanfiction website, Fanfic-FR. I'm publishing the same re-write on this website, if you're interested to check the French version of the story (the first two chapters are already out !).

Please feel free to criticize, I'm open to any kind of remarks or suggestions, especially on my English, I hope this will help me to improve a lot in this beautiful language ! =)

Disclaimer : I'm not Eoin Colfer and the Artemis Fowl universe and characters belong to him (so they don't belong to me, I think it's rather logical but you never know). Though Lagartija Nick is loosely based on a song by Bauhaus, it's my character and you don't play with him without my consentment (otherwise he bites !). I was also hugely inspired by the 2003 TV series 'Dead Like Me', created by Bryan Fuller, for the Inbetweens, though I still interpreted it a lot.

There we are, I think I said everything... I know it's a very short prologue, but enjoy your reading ! :)

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MEMENTO MORI

Prologue
EXCERPT FROM ARTEMIS FOWL II'S DIARY, CRYPTED DISK

Every thing has to die, a moment or another.

It has been so since the universe was created. To each living soul on this planet, is assigned a deadline. On your life's calendar, days pass, pages go on and on until the red-cross-marked box come. The calendar stops on the day you meet Death, even if it's not December 31st and nothing, not even - especially not - you, can prevent it.

Nevertheless, fate doesn't exist. The paths you choose to follow haven't been premedited by any kind of supreme power, and nobody is safe from an accident. Or a murder. That's why it occurs, sometimes, that certain persons die before they reach their deadline.

Death is never late, but when it arrives earlier... what happens ?

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I already started translating the first chapter, I'll do my best so it'll came out soon ! For the moment I hope you like, feel free to review and point out any mistake or anything !