Artemis liked to think that she lived a charmed life.
She did well in school, well enough to completely skip middle school and get into college at only fourteen. In fact, Artemis was in her final semester of her college career. Though she was doing well in all of her classes, Artemis was burning the candle at both ends.
For the past few months her battery had been running on almost empty, never having enough time to recharge. Underneath her sky blue eyes were deep bags, almost like bruises. Her pale skin, while it normally had a healthy glow to it, now almost had a gray undertone to it.
While her classes were not entirely to blame for this phenomenon, the heavy course load she had taken up this semester was certainly a factor. Her mother had forced a major onto Artemis before her time at the university had even started. How was a fourteen year old supposed to decide what she wanted to do for the rest of her life? Well she never got that chance, as her mother took over and put her in the business major. The older woman wouldn't allow Artemis to change it, even if she begged and pleaded.
So the majority of the classes that she took were ones that she wasn't very interested in, but she did manage to sprinkle in a few that did peak her interest. Artemis strived to make sure that she got good grades, but the fact that these classes could be so boring wore her out.
But, no, that wasn't the main reason she had been exhausted for the past three months. The real reason for the lack of energy, was her dreams.
For as long as she could remember Artemis would sometimes have the strangest dreams. Not the kind where your mind would jump aimlessly from one thing to another. The kind where she felt like she was actually there about to witness a disaster happen. There had been dreams where she had watched buildings get crushed like paper mache and people get killed. She had seen flashes of raging battle fields, right from the center of the fight, as if she herself was fighting.
Those used to keep her up at night, they felt so real. Some felt like distant memories from hundreds of years ago, while others felt like glimpses into the future. But as time passed, Artemis convinced herself that they were just dreams.
Between all these dreams there were a few common connections. The ones that felt like memories had only one recurring character, as she was the other. So Artemis could tell if she was in the 'past' by identifying the woman with long brown hair and red eyes. The dreams that looked into the 'future' had more in common. Though she could never get a good look at any of them, there were usually five men, each in their own distinctive color, fighting beside her.
But recently, the dreams have changed.
Instead of the glimpses into either the 'future' or the 'past', Artemis was now greeted by a very large dog, which she didn't really think was a dog.
In this dream she would always start off in her bedroom at home, the wolf-dog standing in the open doorway that somehow led outside. She would follow, and was always led to the edge of a wooded area, the sun was just about to set. The wolf-dog would walk to the tree line and wait for her, and just beyond it was a pitch black forest with no way to see. Meanwhile an unknown voice, just barely above a whisper would becon her to follow. But before Artemis could take a step forward, she would wake up.
THe voice knew something that she didn't. It called, beckoned her towards an adventure, pulled and tugged her soul towards the unknown. But before she could decide whether or not to follow, she would wake up.
Artemis never knew who she could talk to about the dreams. When she was little she used to tell her mother, but the older woman was quick to dismiss them as nothing but fantasies.
But this dream was different. It practically begged Artemis to leave her normal life for something else. It even began to affect her day to day life, as if the call of her dream was something that existed outside of her mind. The call wanted her to leave, and she was beginning to wonder if she should.
It was a few days into spring break when Artemis made the mistake of talking to her mother.
She was sitting in the kitchen, eating some cereal while her mother fussed about the room making sure she had everything ready for work.
"Hey mom?" Artemis asked gently.
"What?" Her mother's tone was harsh. She didn't like to be interpreted from anything.
"Um…" Artemis hesitated for a brief second, her mother took that second to strike viciously.
"Spit it out, I don't have all day."
"I've been having some weird dreams again, and I think they're trying to tell me that I should drop out of school." Artemis said tentatively.
"Margret Artemis Holt, why in the hell would you drop out of college just because a dream told you to? That is insane." Her mother lashed out.
"Because I'm not happy and it feels like my life is being drained away, and I hate it." She spoke quietly at first, but with every word Artemis slowly came to her own defense, her confidence steadily growing.
Her mother let out a heavy sigh, "Listen, the only way to be happy in life is to be on the top, and to be on the top you need money. You've been leaching off of me for nearly nineteen years now, which I have graciously allowed, and will keep allowing until you have a job. And to get a job in this economy you need at least a bachelor's degree. So no, I will not allow you to do anything that would be detrimental to my- I mean your career!" With that said, the older woman grabbed her purse and walked towards the door in an attempt to leave.
Atremis was quick to follow.
"Mom, I don't think I can ignore this. This… this call feels so much bigger than me… than either of us." Artemis was pleading at this point, she didn't know what she was begging for, maybe some sort of blessing to go on this soul searching journey.
SHe was just about to grab her mother's arm when the older woman rounded on her. She grabbed her daughters arm and towered over the teen (which wasn't hard to do).
"I am going to work, and when I get back I better find you sitting in your room working on that essay that's due next week. If I don't, then there will be hell to pay."
And without another word she left.
Artemis stood in front of the door for a good five minutes processing what just happened.
Honestly, she didn't know what else to expect from her mother. For as long as she could remember her mother had been nothing but cruel to her.
So why was she sticking around?
Well… the cushy allowance was nice, and so was the nice penthouse in the middle of NInjago City. Her friends at school were decent, but would probably trade her for a popsicle they found on the street.
Artemis took half a second to close her eyes and breath, the stress of the situation finally crawling its way out from the depths of her mind. When she opened them, she was not expecting to see a wolf standing in front of her, specifically a wolf made of stars.
There seemed to be no physical form to the celestial animal. All she could see of it were the stars that literally made up its body. But if she looked closely, Artemis could see what looked to be a dark cloud of something(?) inside its body.
As she stared into its eyes (are black holes considered eyes?), Artemis knew that this was the wolf from her dreams. And if it was here, that ment her dreams were real.
Eyes wide with wonder and excitement, Artemis ran to her room, emptied her bookbag and quickly stuffed some of her essentials into it.
Her dreams, and mother, had certainly made one thing clear, if she left, she left everything behind. There would be no going back.
With everything packed, Artemis raced out of the penthouse, taking the elevator down to the garage. She practically sprinted toward her Vespa scooter, hopped on and was out of there.
As soon as she was out on the street the wolf was in front of her, once again beconing her to follow. And follow she did.
The celestial creature always stayed a good twenty feet ahead of her. It slowly made its way towards the edge of the city leading her to a small two lane road, that appeared to go on endlessly into the desert. Eventually, as she followed the road, the wolf disappeared, leaving Artemis to find her destiny by herself.
One Month Earlier
Lloyd Garmadon hated school.
He was a smart boy, or so he heard from the teachers, but apparently he just didn't excell at the most important subject.
Villany.
Which was stupid because who runs a school to teach kids how to be bad? That was just silly and enforced stereotypes. Also, who sends their kid to a school to specifically turn them into tiny jackasses?
Lloyd may be the son of Lord Garmadon, the evilest person ever, but even he knew that trying to live up to your parents greatness was almost an unachievable goal.
The small blond boy had been casually strolling by the teachers lounge (read eavesdropping) and heard his name through the thin walls. Apparently they were discussing how he was doing academically and whether or not to expel him for being too nice to the other students.
Now that was stupid.
The boy huffed in annoyance, and made his way towards the mediocre playground area outside. Once there he sat down on a bench facing the fence that surrounded the school.
Kids of all ages were scattered around the area. The younger ones playing games with each other, while the older ones tried to look more grown up.
Lloyd never fit in, and it wasn't just because of his dad. He either felt too old around people, or too young. Not to mention he was the shortest kid in the entire middle school! Even some of the elementary school kids were taller than him!
He scrubbed his hands against his face, trying to relieve some of the stress from his tiny body. Once his hands were in his lap again he looked back up at the fence, almost wishing he could leave. He barely shifted in his seat, and Lloyd saw it.
A stag stood on the other side of the chain link fence. It was made of pure golden sunlight, its antlers even held a ball for shining light that was almost too bright to look at. But its eyes were pitch black, nothing but void.
It stood on the other side of the fence like, well like a deer caught in the headlights, just staring at Lloyd like it was waiting for him to make a decision.
Lloyd slowly stood up and calmly walked towards the stag. If he were paying attention, he would have noticed that one of the other kids had pointed out his move. As he stood just a foot from the fence, all eyes were on Lloyd.
After half a second of thought, Lloyd began to climb.
Hello my beautiful Readers!
This story is a rewrite of a fic of the same name that i have since removed. This one will be better, more consistant, and honestly I just needed to give this story a much needed update. (yes i named the chapter after the song from Frozen 2)
So, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and remeber to leave a reviw :D