Hey guys! It's a short one, unfortunately! All I can say is that the world is going a bit crazy right now, so be sure to stay safe, sane, and above all, respect each other during this trial of hardship! I am currently at home, with a lightened work schedule due to quarantine, so expect another chapter somewhat soon, as I hope to distract those affected with more of this story!
Enjoy!
Artemis spun around and slipped her bow over her shoulder in one motion as she drew her two hunting knives. And there before her, as close as Alexander had been at the war council meeting, was Anahita. Where she had been graceful, ethereal even, in the distant past at the battle of Issus, she stood before Artemis now another entity entirely. Anahita was outfitted with immaculate armor in the style of the rivermen that Artemis had met not long ago before the Pellians and herself had been set upon the chimera. Her dark brown skin was smooth, blending with the ground around her as she seemed to step out of the ground itself, reeds spontaneously sprouting with every step of her bare, slender feet.
Anahita came to a stop, her long black hair flowing behind her, as the gentle breeze around her dropped, and Artemis could only stare into her dark black eyes.
"Hello again, Phoebe Artemis. I see you've survived," Anahita's voice shattered the calm ambience, as the breeze suddenly turned sour with the smell of rotting fish and the reeds fell withered to the cracked earth, browned and poisoned.
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Artemis felt herself reel backwards, her gaze quickly searching around her, looking to the other Pellians around her. But it was to no avail: they were either indisposed, or focused on the skirmish that seemed to unfold around her and the Persian deity, like water against the sea cliffs of Tyre. And Perseus?
Before she could even look, Anahita's voice seemed to pierce straight through her skull.
"Look at me! You insolent wretch of a goddess!" Anahita's voice, once smooth and the pure embodiment of a course stream amidst the reeds turned as sour as the breeze surrounding them. It reminded Artemis of plunging waterfalls, of the explosive power of water that somehow shattered stone.
And so, feeling like a cornered animal, Artemis found herself whirling around to face the vengeful Persian goddess before her. The woven reeds and cured leather guards that Anahita wore looked aged, but her fury and wild expression caused Artemis to take a step back. Her bow lowered at the moment.
"In all my years… my centuries- a millennia of watching over the mortals of my realm, never have I killed for sport! But you, you and your precious expedition have torn away my home! Others in my pantheon may turn a blind eye, or welcome the Greeks as equals, but I will not stand by idly to fade into the aether!" Anahita snarled, as she ripped off a leather vambrace, her dark brown eyes glowing orange with power. Artemis saw the goddess step forward, stripping more and more of her elegant armor, revealing smooth dark brown skin underneath.
"Anahita… I- "Artemis struggled to even form a coherent thought as Anahita's rolling waves of power pulsed outwards that caused flashes of dizziness and… annoyance. Righteous fury simmered inside her core, as Artemis felt the scathing remarks flow into her mind once more.
She stood her ground, and raised her bow, "You think I wanted this?! You've been blind longer than I thought! I haven't once interfered in this campaign against the humans who rule here, but you certainly have woven your intent into its thread! Snarl all you wish against my actions of killing your little birds, but if that is my only fault, then you must be mad with delusion!"
Anahita's only response was a shrill, unhuman shriek of rage, as her limbs flailed outwards, ripping off her armor, clothes, and hair. Artemis drew an arrow, her mind pulsing with the desire to kill this rogue goddess. She loosed her arrow at the thrashing form of Anahita, now nude amidst the desert sands, where her arrow found its mark in Anahita's neck. Suddenly the hoarse screeching was silenced as a muted gurgling cry bubbled out of Anahita's throat before she crashed onto the sand.
The sight snapped Artemis out of the rage induced frenzy that had almost come to a boil. Something was wrong, Artemis could feel the effects of something… unnatural, some sort of…
A low giggling laugh emitted from Anahita's prone body.
"You… you are going to die here today," Anahita's head snapped upwards with an unnerving twitch of muscles. Artemis could see the tip of her arrow jutting out of the side of Anahita's slender neck, with bubbles of blood-forming as the Persian goddess talked. "I have… seen it… every night as I restlessly stalked you and your wretched mortal companions!"
Artemis went to draw another arrow, but found herself pausing as Anahita dropped her head onto the earth on all fours. The nude feral goddess screamed, her hands clenching the bloodstained sands. Her veins pulsed black as her eyes were swallowed into two onyx pools of a void-like fury, flickering with orange silted pupils.
There were the horrible cracks and groans of bones and muscles shifting, as the form of Anahita contorted and shifted before her eyes. Anahita's limbs elongated as copper colored feathers burst all over her lithe body, and her hands and feet grew into massive paws with gleaming sharp claws. The screams of the goddess resumed, over the gurgling sounds of her throat and the bubbling blood, but the noise suddenly transformed into a screeching cry as Anahita's torso and head morphed into a familiar, large Simurgh specimen that Artemis had seen once before.
Artemis's fears were only confirmed as the fully transformed Anahita, in giant Simurgh form, sprouted a pair of rainbow wings from the giant bulging muscles of her back. Anahita stood on all fours, well above her height at her shoulders, and with a wingspan of at least eight body lengths. But already, Artemis noticed some frightening new additions to this Simurgh form, which she had already seen once before at Tyre. Dark pulsing black webbing stretched across the feathers of Anahita's body and wings, marring her colorful plumage and giving the distinctive feathers an oily appearance. And then, Artemis saw the swishing tails, which were lazily whipping back and forth behind Anahita's form.
Manticore tails. Two long coiling appendages with hundreds of spines and spikes lashed to and fro like a lion stalking its prey with a frustrated grace and impatience. Artemis readied herself, watching for any sign of an impending attack, but at the same moment, Anahita's Simurgh form tensed, and lunged forwards, wings spread wide as they almost helped glide the giant form through the sand like a striking viper.
Without conscious thought, Artemis dropped her bow and dived to the side, her legs slipping through the sand and earth before her feet. She crashed to the loose sand and dirt chest first, causing her to gasp as she tumbled once. Artemis heard a dull impact of Anahita against the earth where she had been standing a mere moment before mid-tumble; but her reflexes kicked in with the tumble ending with her landing on one knee, her right foot, and her left hand splayed out with all five fingers digging into the hot sand.
In front of her Anahita had pounced forward, her rainbow wings dulled by both their oily sheen and black visage.
"Clever little cricket! Diving this way and that! You may avoid me, but your friends cannot!" Anahita seethed through her wolf head, the mane of feathers surrounded her heavyset eyes and snout also coated in the black webbing of her fall from grace.
Artemis felt her gaze instantly flick around her, as the battle still raged around them, and that moment's hesitation cost her dearly.
In the blink of an eye, a group of four Pellians, accompanied by the same number of cantering Persian Cavalrymen, all instantly seized where they stood and rode. The horses instantly collapsed while one neighed, falling onto its hind legs, before it too toppled over, its rider twitching and writhing without clear intent. Imbedded in them all, Artemis saw four, five, six: dozens of Manticore spines sticking out of their bodies where armor did not cover.
Thundering hooves from behind her snapped her out of the horrible sight before her, as she slewed around, she was met with a Karkadann already almost on top of her, bellowing directly at her as its double horns and hooves flashed down. Artemis stumbled to turn away, her eyes widening at the sight of the giant mouth opened against a metal bit, with dark reins, and four Persian riders, but the Karkadann was faster.
She slipped around the hooves, but then the side of the rhino-like beast's face loomed in her vision, and the sides of both horns along with the Karkadann's skull cracked against own head and chest. White-hot pain instantly flashed across her vision and her skull and ribs. Three cracks resounded within her chest as Artemis dulled registered being airborne, her vision still dark. She slammed into the ground on her right shoulder, wrenching it backwards as her head cracked once more into the ground.
She wheezed at the impact, her hearing going into a high pitch piercing whining noise. Immediately opening her eyes, as the pain in her chest redoubled, her lungs gasped for air and it felt like someone was squeezing them at the same time. All she could think about was the pain, as the world before her swirled around in muddled shapes on browns and golds. The very ground she lay on seemed to pulse and vibrate, which added to the throbbing sensations of pain that racketed her body. The world flickered in and out as Artemis fought to remain conscious. Her very mind seemed slow and sluggish.
'Move! Get up! Now!'
But nothing obeyed her mental commands, and the background vibrations suddenly pulsed through her body once and then against a shadow settled over her vision. A cold gripped sensation settled over the burning pain in her chest as the fuzzy form of a giant winged beast reared up against the hazy blue sky.
It was her end and all she could think about in that moment, with the pain suddenly fleeting and the world gone quiet, was Perseus, and those last words that hummed through her body: "Phoebe Artemis, I love you."
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Silence reigned across the clearing, as the fire crackled, with the savory spell of cooked venison still wafting over the Hunt.
Artemis glanced around them; her own cut of meat left nibbled at in the course of her retelling. The stoic silence of the Hunters permeated through the clearing and through Artemis's own thoughts.
She locked her vision back on the fire, which had died down to low flames amidst the glowing embers that used to be stout oaken logs.
"My Lady… you couldn't have… died there, right?" Angelina spoke up, nestled against Emily on her left, and Cinder on her right, with the wolf quietly licked Angelina's empty plate.
"I did not die…" Artemis sighed, recalling the brief moments of the battle, "I was caught off guard, and that moment was the last I thing I remembered. When I awoke, the battle was already over. The sight I saw before me was… Perseus, looking over me."
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A full moon shone over a glistening silvery lake, illuminating the surrounding forest and shore. The serene sight was accompanied by a gentle breeze that billowed over the water's surface. Peaceful air currents swiftly brought light clouds across the night sky, which would catch the moon's rays from time to time as their outlines became etched in a silver hue.
Artemis carefully stepped forward to the water's edge, looking down over herself. Her tanned skin was gone, and her auburn curls hung down to her hips in rivulets of fire in the night air. Her beloved plain tunics and the black leather armor that Athena had gifted her were gone, and instead she wore her silver hunting tunic that she had donned for centuries.
Looking around, the forest was silent, and the gentle waters were crystal calm save for the tiny ripples conjured by the wind.
Artemis looked down at the water's reflection, and staggered back.
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She bolted upwards, pain racking through her body. Instantly the movement sent daggers of pain slamming into her head and she froze, one arm clutching her midsection, the other palming her head.
The world around her was black, as she realized her eyes were closed, struggling to open against some invisible weight. Her entire body was on fire, it hurt to breathe, it hurt to even think. Artemis felt upper torso slowly sank back down into a soft material as her head laid to rest on a pillow.
'The battle. ANAHITA.'
Her eyes snapped open as the pain seemed to pulse harder, and harder and harder.
Then she saw him.
"Artemis!" Perseus exclaimed, "Hold on, hold on…" He murmured gently as he slipped a rag over her forehead. Instantly moisture seeped through and the cool pressure against her head seemed to numb the searing points of pain in her skull.
The damp cloth along with Perseus's voice brought her back down to reality, as she finally gauged her surroundings. The familiar dark walls of their tents registered, as well as the rough cloth and stiffness of her cot. Perseus sat besides her, still dressed in his armor, with a bandaged upper arm and dried flaking blood clumped in his damp hair.
In short, he looked both terrible and alive.
"Perseus…" Artemis whispered, her chest screaming in pain, "The battle… Anahita was there…" She tried to push through the pain, and attempted to sit up, only to meet resistance at her uninjured shoulder. Delirious, she noticed Perseus's calloused hand gently holding her down.
Despite the circumstances, she flushed, as her mind coiled backwards to their first sparring match before Tyre, where she had languidly stretched over him like a cat, to secure her victory…
"Artemis, shush," Perseus murmured, his deep green eyes staring into her soul, "I know. But its over now. We won. The battle is over." The sight almost made Artemis drift off into slumber, the throbbing sensations across her body soothed by Perseus's words.
But she had to stay awake, she fought of the heaviness that her eyelids had gained and blinked several times, and just watched him.
Perseus, despite being calm, worked with quick nimble motions as he dabbed and brushed at the relatively undamaged parts of her head. Already, she could feel a giant swollen lump on the side of her skull, above the left ear, where the horn must have struck. All the while, Perseus rubbing soothing circles into her good shoulder.
"What happened?" Artemis murmured, staring at Perseus's face, her eyes scanning every line, every speck of dirt that dusted his brow and nose.
Perseus's ministrations halted for a brief second and he placed the damp cloth over her head injury, "the fight with the Persian cavalry started off well, but moments later, it all went to Hades. Persian horsemen breached our flimsy javelin line, the Karkadann ran amok through both horsemen and Pellians… the Simurgh lashed down from the skies. I've never seen more death and carnage happen so quickly. I followed two Karkadann after our light cavalry smashed into the right flank… and found you, surrounded by the dead and dying from Simurghs, Karkadann… and the Queen of the Simurghs themselves. I saw you on the ground… gone, your hands grasping at sand and earth, your bow broken besides you."
Perseus took a ragged breath.
"I saw Anahita land beside you. And… and I couldn't let her kill you."
Artemis felt her heart plummet, seemingly dropping its steady pulse entirely to join the pained throbbing of her ribs and lungs, each breath coming with painful anticipation, "Perseus…"
One of Perseus's free hands hesitantly reached up to trace up her cheek, his fingers dusting across her skin as light as a feather, before he brushed some of her errant locks of auburn hair behind her ear.
His fingers paused there for a moment, tracing the outline of her ear, and she shuddered, her arms and neck flushing ice cold with prickling sensations. With a split second of hesitation, she pressed her cheek into Perseus's hand.
"I heard you…" Artemis whispered, the familiar fears and doubt welling up inside as she cast her eyes down at Perseus's breastplate. A mix of affection and shame welled up inside, which cut through her fuzzy mental state. 'How weak was she that she was willing to succumb to her desires?' The fight flashed before her eyes, as her panic had set in after being hit by that Karkadann. The last thoughts before the world went dark were worrying about Perseus… not herself.
"Artemis…" Perseus sighed softly, gently threading his fingers through her scalp, the motions alone sending another wave of chills down her spine, "I don't need to hear you say it. I know."
Artemis stifled a cough, smiling despite herself as Perseus's hand massaged her head. She thought about the ramifications, the pain, the ultimate future that all mortals faced… And she also thought of all her and Perseus had endured together. The first she saw of him at Sestus, in the Macedonian camp. Attacking the Chimera with him assisting her, as he would prove to always do. Meeting in the woods outside Tarsus as a mortal. Bickering and teasing each other for months on the march. Recognizing her feelings at Tyre, on the mole and in their duel. Traveling through Egypt, while he supported her in her fears about Alexander's ambitions.
In that moment, she wondered when she had even been able to keep it all contained. And now, she wondered why she had all this time.
Her eyes sought his, seeing again the deep swirling irises that had taught her so much about being alive, and being free. Her left arm grabbed his breastplate and she brought Perseus down while hauling herself up momentarily.
"Wait, Arte-"Perseus's eyes bulged, and his other bandaged arm came forward as he scrambled, but Artemis beat him to it.
Her lips pressed against his in a hungry, searing kiss that Artemis flew into with the recklessness of her youth, as she threw all her fears and qualms to the wayside. For a moment, she held herself up, her lips pressed against Perseus's unmoving mouth as the air escaped around her lips in a puff of his breath. Her eyes scrunched closed, as she reveled in the unfamiliar sensations of her lips upon his, and the scratching, prickling feeling of his beard against her cheeks. Then, Perseus responded, his head tilting in to catch her lips in return, as an arm wound itself across her upper back, and the other cupped the bludgeoned side of her face with a feather touch.
She would've have stayed there forever, if she could've, but pain suddenly broke through her adrenaline, and her chest was racked in a spasming twist of a need for air. Her grip on his breastplate faltered, and she slumped back away from the kiss. She coughed, the pain coming with each one as a tremor through her entire body, ricocheting around until it ended with a hammering presence in her skull.
"Di…Immortales…" Artemis wheezed, her eyes squeezing shut as her lungs seemed to catch fire. When she finally reopened them after several moments of catching her breath through the tight squeezing pressure of her wrapped ribs, she saw Perseus before her. His hands still clutched around her back and now forehead as he gently laid her back onto the cot. A pool of warmth filled her chest, fighting against the fiery pain, as she noticed his shocked expression, and reddened lips and face.
"I…Artemis-"Perseus stuttered, the hand on her back twitching before lying deathly still against collar of her tunic around her neck.
"I don't think I can say it back… but I can show it, Perseus," Artemis said softly, the magnitude of what she had just done washing over her. Her first freely given kiss since her life began. The first time she had acted on desire instead of abstinence.
"No… I mean… Artemis…" Perseus looked horrified, before his expression steeled slightly, "I am a selfish person. I saw you on the battlefield unconscious. I fought and drove Anahita off because I was afraid that you would be a goddess again, and I would lose you. You terrify me, because I don't know how I can live knowing that one day, you'll be a goddess and I'll be a soldier scarred from this war."
"You are selfish?" Artemis puffed, her heart singing, knowing that in that moment, nothing mattered since Perseus had the same fears and reservations that she did. The leap of trust that she had made with wild abandon was reciprocated in full. "Is it wrong then, if I also wished that you would be selfish enough to defend me, so that I could be with you today still, for this moment at least?"
Her eyes locked with his, as she watched him flick his gaze to her lips, before he hesitantly leaned forwards, his fingers tightening against the back of her neck. She hummed and let go the fact that she was Phoebe Artemis, Goddess of Virginity and the Hunt for the moment, and became Artemis, a woman in love.
She met him midway, her eyes open this time, as she propped herself up on her one good arm.
And for now, everything was going to be ok.
