Anger ripped through me like a tornado. With tear filled eyes I drew my bow and launched volley after volley of arrows at the beast. I didn't care about anything or anyone else at that moment. I just wanted it dead. I knew the stories of the Nemean lion, its fur was impenetrable. I could fire as many shots as I liked but it would never put a dent in its hide, much less slay the beast.
Eventually a hand came to rest on my shoulder and I turned, my bow drawn again and ready to fire, only to see Artemis standing there with a sad look on her face. I didn't understand why, but the look made me feel terrible, worse somehow than seeing the necklace dangle from the lion's jaws. She seemed terribly sad, like there was something she desperately wanted to say but couldn't. Like there was something she wanted to do but wasn't allowed to. The corners of her eyes watered ever so slightly, on the verge of tears. It wasn't like the other times, where the look was there but vanished. This time it lingered for a while, clearly visible and unmistakable. But like all the other times it faded away, replaced this time by wide eyed surprise. She mouthed the word "look" and I did, gasping and backing up a bit at what I saw.
The Nemean lion was no longer alone. While I was busy firing and being calmed by Artemis, two hydras had come to even the odds. Giant bodies like a long necked dinosaur's ambled towards me on the ground with their two dozen heads, teeth dripping with venom, writhed about in the air, snapping and roaring.
"I think our problems just got worse, Arc." Like she needed to tell me that. It's not hard to figure out that things are getting bad when you're forced to fight two hydras and a Nemean lion. And to make things more problematic, my trigger happy arrow shooting a second ago left me with two shots left. Today was not looking like a good day for me.
"It seems another predator has obtained your prey Arc, and as its rival you need to strike it down. Go, destroy that lion. I shall take on the hydras!" She said and drew two arrows shooting at the throats of the hydras. Getting their attention she fired shot after shot all while screaming and running off.
I almost didn't notice but the Nemean lion had also begun to follow her. Refusing to let it go I found the biggest rocks I could and hurled them at its head. Every rock landed where I wanted it to so I guess anything I shot or threw I had good aim with. That would be nice to know the next time I'm in a water balloon fight.
Well the rocks got its attention and the angry beast came lunging after me. I drew an arrow hoping I could get a shot, but I wasn't sure where I could hit. Realizing there was no place I just barely managed to find enough time to dodge.
The battle continued like this for what seemed like ages. He'd swipe with massive claws and I'd barely find the time to dodge. Time and again I would dodge too slowly and take a hit, I tried so hard, but always to no avail. Finally, I grew angry and even tried to go toe to toe with him, punching him in the face. Not wise. He took his giant claw brought it down on me hard sending me soaring into a tree and knocking all the wind out of me.
It gave out a mighty roar and stood on its hind legs. It was then that I realized its weakness. "Heh," I said as I stood. I had to hold the right side of my chest with my bloody left arm to stop the bleeding on my side, he had gotten in a really good blow. "I see. So you're whole body is covered in that invincible fur of yours." I laughed a little, I guess just out of fatigue. "Well guess what little guy?" The Nemian lion turned its head towards me and looked me dead in the eye. Maybe it could understand me? "I… *huff*… haven't seen an opponent yet… who's eye I couldn't stab… and who's mouth was plated with armor!" I drew my bow and nocked an arrow and aimed at his open jaws. I watched as the arrow flew towards the beast but it jumped out of the way and came charging ripping the ground out from beneath it with each of its heavy footsteps. I fired another at its roaring mouth, but to no avail. He snapped its jaw shut just in time for it to bounce off its head. The same head he then used to ram me into a tree. I barely found the strength to roll out of the way before he sank his teeth into the earth I was in just a moment before.
Stumbling and tired I rose to my feet, gasping for breath. I was out of arrows and out of luck, yet I couldn't give up. I had to beat him, to destroy him for good… I couldn't let it end this way! "Hey ugly!" I screamed, my heart filled with sorrow and anger. "Do you hear me?! Listen bud and listen good!" I almost keeled over from pain and blood loss but somehow I managed to stay standing. I looked at him my shirt drenched with my tears. "You stole… you stole my mother from me you bastard! You stole the one thing in life I actually cared for! The one thing I wanted! And now! Now… now I'm going to destroy you! I'm gonna teach you true pain… I'm going… to put all of my dreams… into this next one! You can't stop me now!" What happened next I didn't really understand, somehow instinct told me that I could. Raising my hand in the air as I screamed I drew my bow with the other. Then, with that night's full moon at my back, I felt a surge of energy rush to my fingers as white light swirled around me like a blanket of stars. I should've been shocked or surprised, but I wasn't. Somehow the idea of the entire night sky wrapping around my hand seemed completely natural as it molded itself into the shape of an arrow. I nocked my bow, with it and watched as the light came to encase that too, forcing it to grow until it was twice the original size and filled with intricate markings that depicted the night sky and the moon. Neon blue crescents and stars filled small areas not covered by the white light and radiated throughout the clearing.
I held up the bow, summoning every memory I could of my mother, of my home, tears flowed like rivers as I released the arrow and screamed at the top of my lungs. "TAKE THIS! LUNALESCA!". The light surged forward engulfing everything. It barreled away destroying anything in its path, trees, rocks, even the ground itself. It shown so bright the sky seemed to turn to day. For just a moment the world above my head turned its usual light blue with its normal fluffy white clouds before turning back to a dull tar black.
Finally the light settled. A scar was left on the ground, earth that was cut up into nothingness left a ditch seven feet across and equally as deep. Where the lion once stood there was now nothing but a golden pelt. I hobbled toward it, falling rather ungracefully into the pit. I fell to the ground on my knees as I looked at the pelt. A reward I guess for defeating the beast. Picking it up I felt more tears begin to well up in my throat and just as I was about to cry I heard something fall to the ground. I looked down to check it out and I couldn't hold my tears back any longer. On the ground was my mother's necklace. It had been protected from the blast by the pelt! I held both of them in my hands as I cried. Nothing else really mattered at the moment. The monster was dead and the necklace was retrieved but… "Mother… where are you?"
I'll never forget what happened next. It changed my life forever and in a million different ways. It brought me down a road I certainly wasn't expecting but I sure didn't mind. If I could go back to that day and had the chance to stop what was going to happen, part of me would probably want to, but the rest of me would just watch and relive the moment.
I froze as a pair of arms had wrapped around my neck and were holding me. I could feel my shirt get wet as drops of warm water dripped onto it. Someone, a woman by the feel of it, was holding me… and she was crying.
"Don't worry honey, mommy's right here!"