Perseus woke, unsure of whether or not he was alive. The boy scanned his surroundings, the glare of the setting sun causing a rift between his vision.
He tried to remember. Remember where he was, who he was, and how the hell he got here.
The grasping of his mind came to nothing, the result; nil.
There was no probable answer that could reach the forefront of his mind. In other words, he was helpless, trapped in a manipulative game of the gods– that much he knew.
He accredited them for giving him this much information, however dull and few. Perseus remembered the gods, their origins, Mount Olympus. What he didn't remember was his connection to them, and why he felt so disturbed by the presence of immortal beings on his mind.
Like he knew of them, but didn't know what to do with them in his brain.
Perseus called it a complexity of sorts, while he was laying on the hardened forestry ground that appealed to no mortal body. The boy grunted as he sat up, looking directly into the eyes of someone.
Perseus jumped backwards, alarmed.
"Interesting," the person above him observed.
He grunted, attempting to push the intruder off of his body. The person didn't budge.
Finally, enough space was allocated so that Percy could at least snake his body out of the way and sit up.
Perseus shot into the air, reinvigorated by the small inch of free space and immediately attacked the intruder.
He noticed it was a female, with a lithe shape, but his hazy mind couldn't pick up any other details about his opponent. Perseus was without a weapon, but it seemed as if he did not care. He relentlessly threw punch after punch onto his attacker, but none of them could seem to hit.
It was as if she was phasing through them.
Finally, his opponent swiftly pushed him back into a tree and held him at knife-point. (If that was a thing.)
"Artemis?"
"Indeed," the goddess sat up. "You recognize me."
Percy nodded slightly, attempting to scoot back further. "Why – why were you on me?"
"Simply checking your pulse. If you were dead, then the council would've been thrown into chaos. I cannot allow that to happen."
"Ah, yes. The council–the ones that completely erased my life and placed me here in this moment with you for some… reason?" Perseus guessed.
Artemis nodded, "I was just sent here to ensure that nothing went haywire during the transition."
"I trust that the gods have come up with a clever new plan in order to defeat whatever else is rising – evil or not Zeus will want a reliable backup plan."
"And a reliable starting plan." Artemis agreed. "Which is why you're here, placed in this moment, next to me."
The goddess lowered her knife.
"I suppose I am the starting plan and the backup plan. And what did you mean by the transition?"
"The transition to godhood, of course." Artemis said while examining a nearby flower bush. She said it so nonchalantly that Perseus stumbled across his next few words.
"Godhood…" he muttered. "Without my permission?"
"Some extreme measures had to – ah – be taken."
Perseus looked at his hands, glancing down reverently as if they were about to implode.
Artemis watched with a new sort of interest, like a lion stalking a zebra. "It's time to report back to Olympus. They'll want to know these new transpiring updates."
"Back to Olympus?" Perseus asked, "I don't think so. Not after this, I can't."
Perseus turned to run, but Artemis only blocked his path. "We can do this peacefully, or we can do this with violence. I prefer the latter, but you can choose."
Perseus gulped.