Chapter 1: Chance for Change
"W-what…?" Artemis muttered to herself as she was slowly regaining consciousness. She was newly aware of the fact she was laying down somewhere and that her surroundings were quiet. She thought at first that the storm must have stopped but then she was suddenly hit with the memory of the lightning bolt.
"Am I dead?" She thought with fear at that prospect. She finally, after several long moments, decided to force open her eyes and see what kind of situation she was in.
Black. That's all she could see at first. She then turned her head around and observed she was surrounded by black walls and ground. The only other color visible is a swirling purple off in the distance. To Artemis this looked eerily familiar.
She stood up shakily and looked around once more. She could now see she was behind a large black boulder, and that there was a small passageway to the side. She walked out from behind the boulder to see a sight that nearly made her fall down again. In front of her was a long black road and at the end of the road was a gargantuan castle, also completely made of black walls. Her jaw dropped.
"Oh my god…. That cannot be what I think it is." Artemis said in awe. She walked slowly towards the castle in complete and utter disbelief. She knew there was no way to deny where she was. She had somehow ended up at none other than Castle Bleck, home of Count Bleck and his minions. Her mind started to race at 80 miles per hour.
"Wait! What time period is it? Is the game already over or are they all still here? And it they are…" She thought and then trailed off. She suddenly smiled.
"If they are then this is my chance! My bizarre coming here aside, this is one of the greatest things to happen to me!" She said out load now that her voice has recovered from the shock. The brunette quickly shook her head back and forth to clear her head.
"Calm down!" She mentally ordered herself. She had woken up here, out of nowhere, after being struck by a lightning bolt. She had to figure this out before she got ahead of herself. She looked down at herself to see she was perfectly unharmed, albeit a little soggy from the rain. What she thought of next was the most puzzling part. Why did it seem like that cat had led her to that spot on purpose? Sure, that sounded crazy but was relatively normal compared to where she was right now. She looked up to see that she absentmindedly, as she was thinking, walked slowly closer to the castle. She was closer now and could see more of the details.
Suddenly, a voice sliced through the open air.
"Your chance? Your chance for what, may I ask?" said a smooth, melodic voice from above her a few feet away. She looked up, even thought she had already guessed who had spoken.
And there he was, Dimentio, the self-proclaimed master of dimensions and pleaser of crowds; and, most importantly, Artemis's favorite character from the game and from anything really as of late. She became obsessed with him after her first play through of the game. She's read fan fiction, seen art work, and more. She is of the opinion, like many others, that he is a tragic character and that something terrible must have happened to him in his past to make him the way he is. And whether we admit it or not, we all have that one character whom we have a bit of a crush on even though they are fictional. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, Dimentio is Artemis's fictional crush. This makes the situation she is in right now kinda awkward for her.
"Oh, gosh, Dimentio! My chance? My chance to… meet all of you guys!" She said flustered beyond belief.
'Y'see I, um, know what you're all trying to do and I completely support you. So I, um, came here to ask if I can, um, help…" Artemis stumbled out quickly trying to hide how nervous she was and failing to do so.
At this Dimentio could not help but laugh out loud.
"HAHAHA! You silly girl, you're like a flopping fish caught out of water!" He said in-between laughter. He continued to laugh a few moments longer before he calmed down. Artemis blushed even more at his comment.
"So, if you truly want to help us, then answer me this." Dimentio said his tone now serious.
"What?" She responded nervously.
"How did you get here? This dimension is unreachable unless you had the ability to transport here directly or a door leading here was opened. No such door has been opened and anyone besides the count or his minions cannot teleport here directly." Dimentio explained.
"I, um…" At first she stuttered and considered lying. After all, who would believe her? But then she thought better of it as she could only imagine what would happen if he didn't believe her lie. So, she decided on the truth.
"I was hit by a lightning bolt." She said. She then went on to explain in greater detail that she had followed a cat into the rain, and after being hit, suddenly woke up here.
"My, my, this is peculiar! Well, the count will certainly want to hear about this. Come along." Dimentio said after she had finished explaining. He opened the grand door and led her inside, to face the unknown. Well, kinda unknown.