Out Of The Darkness
Chapter 35
It took only a few moments to find the exact location where Artemis' temple had once stood (or still stood) in Ancient Greece. The temple that Artemis and Acheron had met, where Artemis had refused to touch Acheron not wishing her name to be sullied by that of a Tsoulus. Where Acheron had shredded his humanity and ascended to godhood, after Apollo had ruthlessly and without mercy killed Acheron. It was poetic that they would die here, where they experienced true fear for the first time in their life.
Acheron's death after all, had immediately heralded the release of Apollymi. Who had destroyed Atlantis and Didymos on her way to them, and would have completely destroyed the Atlantean pantheon – specifically to take out Apollo and Artemis who killed her son – but they had revived Acheron after tricking him.
Harry looked around indifferently, his gaze critical as he took in the site of the ruins before him. Artemis' temple was twenty KM from Athens. The area was silent, he couldn't even make out an animal stirring. Had the damage been done by the ravages of time or had Apollymi done this before her son had been revived?
Harry loathed that it felt peaceful, calming, there were trees growing out what was once the temple. Mountainsides lush with greenery on all sides, and a sacred river nearby, the trickle of it calming the senses further. You'd never know such tragedy had occurred here, or that an unworthy goddess had schemed here. That Acheron's blood had likely seeped into the very earth.
Reaching out he touched the stone, the hum of magic under his fingers…and he wondered if the muggles here could feel it. There was another temple for Artemis, in Turkey, Ephesus if he recalled correctly. He'd did a lot of extra reading while in university, that and did history as a subject. Not much of that temple in Turkey had survived, and it certainly had a hell of a history to back it up. Between being set of fire and destroyed by invading Goths. It had never been rebuilt after that.
Harry sighed, his anger was finally back under his control, but his desires had not wavered. He was determined to see it through and kill both Apollo and Artemis. He would not let a threat to his and Acheron's lives live. The next time either of them were taken they might not walk away. Especially now knowing that Acheron was never going to be hers, obsession was never a good thing when it came to someone, never mind a goddess. No, she'd keep going until he was killed, or worse decide to kill Acheron because 'if I can't have him nobody can' sprang to mind.
Rolling his shoulders and neck, loosening his muscles, he moved over to the grass area just to the left of the temple. Setting the bundle which was now dry to the side, in front of him. He unrolled it and critically roamed over the runes painstakingly stitched onto the cloth to be replicated.
Then he felt it, small pulses of magic, hidden, perplexed, he peered at the cloth confused. Had the magic been imbued into the cloth? No, it didn't feel like anything, it was coming from that corner there. One brushstroke with his fingers, he felt a little flap.
Inside he found twelve obsidian stones, smooth given the time they were from. Not only that but the runes from the cloth were replicated on small obsidian stones. They'd been powered up; he could feel it. They would trap the pair within its confines, while simultaneously draining their powers – with the right incantation of course – which would ultimately kill them. It would take a while, a long while when you consider all the powers Artemis had stolen in her very long near immortal life.
He may end up liking Greece more than anticipated, Harry thought as he begun to part the earth and drop the obsidian rune down, rune side up. Before spelling the earth back into position, and nothing gave away that it had been disturbed to begin with.
He set the runes in a circular fashion, in two different areas Apollo's directly where Acheron had breathed his last. Artemis…where she'd hidden and watched her brother viscerally destroy the man, she 'proclaimed' to love. Which wasn't far, she could have prevented Atlantis and Didymos sinking, could have stopped the set back of humanity, could have stopped the deaths of millions of people if she'd just acted.
Not that Artemis likely cared other than the inconvenience of it he'd bet.
Shifting slightly, rubbing at his chest, the onset of heartburn from bending over making him grimace. He could swear he could feel sick in his mouth, he grimaced again. He wasn't prone to much in the way of illness, never had been actually. In pain from confrontations, beatings and things but never so much as a cold. Never been susceptible to heartburn either, or sickness.
It could be that he was pushing his body past their boundaries. He'd never trained quite so relentlessly before. He was literally getting his ass handed to him five days out of the week. He wondered how long it would be before Savitar came to look for him. He didn't seem like one that would come looking. He'd just go back to doing whatever he liked best – surfing. Hopefully he wouldn't go warning Acheron, he didn't want to be interrupted.
He meant it when he said to Apollymi that best to seek forgiveness than ask permission.
Seeking out the other items in the bag, he noticed the summoning chants. He pondered on whether to use them or just drag them here himself. Artemis wasn't able to leave Olympus, Harry had made sure of that, seeing as he thought she was the biggest danger to him. To them.
A foolish mistake that he won't be repeating.
He should have known better to begin with really, given the immense experience he had with the crazies.
He wondered if summoning her would even work considering he'd literally imprisoned her up top. The ritual though was quite…intriguing. If it worked as it should – and it, would he hadn't seen such sophisticated work in…years. It truly was impressive, once he was done, he'd try and look for a name. Although, giving them a name of the one who had helped him end them should be done.
Would they even know the persons' name? Even remember them? What they look like? This plan must have been plotted before Atlantis sunk to the depth of the ocean floor during Apollymi's rampage. Clearly, they hadn't had a chance to put their plan into action, Harry couldn't help but wonder why. Were they missing something? Waiting for something? Harry found himself extremely curious.
He pouted a bit, it's clear he wouldn't ever find out, after all they were likely long gone.
If it had been a god or some such, the stuff would have been taken with him without a doubt. Nobody went through all this effort to end Apollo and Artemis and leaves it behind. Not when it would only take a second to grab it…unless they didn't even have that amount of time. Who knows, he hadn't been around for that destruction thank Merlin.
"I summon thee, Artemis of Olympus, I summon you to my side, I demand your presence before me, so I will it, so it shall be!" Harry recited in perfect ancient Greek, he'd long ago learned the language when he begun to seek out Atlantis for his mother, and the Evans side of the family. Harry hummed as he took a step back, he could feel the runes pulsing from under the ground. Fascinating.
"Magic to magic, I summon you, magic to magic come to me," Harry called out in Ancient Greek, as the earth begun to pulse more. Glancing around worriedly, not only at someone venturing close but the possibility of the temple crumbling. He had no idea what sort of magic that might wake. He did not want that happening thank you very much.
Especially since there was already three distinctively different magic's at play.
Then there was a unique change in the air, and Harry knew the ritual magic was working. He took a single step back, watching avidly, then just like that, one moment the area was pulsing but empty. The next moment Artemis screaming after cutting herself off mid conversation, before whimpering pathetically, as she all but bounced off the hard ground. Dirtying her flowing white admittedly lovely robe that most people would think was a dress.
Harry's grin was a ferocious thing, one that nobody in the magical world could have ever conceived to be on their boy hero's face.
This was going to be so much fun.
"What do you think you're…AHHHH!" Artemis shrieked in agony, stepping back before screaming again, as the back of the shield she was encompassed in caught her. "What is this?" her gaze zoomed around, trying to find what had caused her such pain.
Harry's eyes widened in surprised fascination, "Interesting," he intoned, his head cocked to the side, a small smirk playing across his face.
It appeared as though the shield keeping Artemis prisoner also shocked her as she attempted to get out. Harry couldn't help but chuckle at the look on her face, as her situation sank in. She was without her powers, stuck, trapped with the wizard she'd attempted to kill not even twenty-four hours ago. One that she was scared of if the look on her face was any indication. Fascinating, he hadn't expected that, after all they didn't seem scared. Who went after someone if they were terrified of them? It made no sense, it's like him deliberately going after Voldemort in his youth. Although, did him going after the stone count? No, it didn't matter.
"…I swear I will find the most inventive way possible to kill you, in the most excruciatingly painful way I can!" Artemis snarled, her rather pretty face marred with the ugly look on it.
"You don't honestly believe that, do you?" Harry asked staring at her bemused, she was stuck here without her powers, and there could only be one deduction as to why.
Moving over to the other hidden trap, he begun to recite it once more without needing direction. Not even due to it being in another language. Greek was just as much a part of him as English, although, even if it wasn't his abilities made it more so.
Artemis attempted to distract Harry the entire time, especially when she cottoned on to what he was actually doing. Especially considering that Apollo was likely the only one who could or would come to her aid. Nothing worked of course, not even insulting him or Acheron had worked.
"ACHERON YOUR CATAMITE IS ATTEMPTING TO KILL ME! GET HERE AT ONCE AND STOP HIM!" Artemis shrieked mentally, using everything in her to make it as loud as possible. Sending it directly to Acheron, hoping against hope he would actually listen to her. "YOU KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN!" it was a threat as much as a warning, refraining from telling him about Apollo. Not that it would change anything, Acheron would do save her no matter how pissed off he was. Of that she knew to be true. Not only was he the mother of their child, but he knew what would happen if they died, the world would die with it. Hence why he'd even kept his own mother imprisoned.
"What on Olympus…" Apollo groaned, blinking rapidly, as he looked around entirely befuddled. He'd found a beautiful blind chick, he'd had a wonderful night, go figure it would be spoiled by Artemis' antics. How could he explain disappearing? He guessed he couldn't go back, oh, well, plenty of other blind girls to fuck. "What are you up to now Ar—" only to cry out when he attempted to walk to Artemis and give her what for. Just because she couldn't get down it didn't mean he had to suffer from it.
Apollo cringed, his penis coming off the worst, by the attack. The zaps were like severe electric shocks, and caused it to shrivel up protectively. Apollo covered his very vulnerable parts with his hands. His heart pounding erratically, he was trapped, "You." His face screwing up like
Just as Artemis predicted, it didn't take long for Acheron to appear, his hair back to black with red stripes in it again. His favoured look, it made her grimace, his blonde hair was by far her favourite look on Acheron and he never let it be that colour. No matter how many times she told him she preferred it.
"Harry?" Acheron stated cautiously, eyeing both of them, looking rather pale. Whether Apollo and Artemis realized it or not, he knew exactly where they were, and why they were here.
Harry had sworn to kill them after all, and this all spoke of a deep seated need for justice, for him.
Nothing good was going to come of today.
A/n – I've already started the next chapter lol but I sort of begun writing the end scene and left a huge hole in what could or should have been the middle of the chapter so that's why this smaller chapter is getting updated lol the rest of the chapter is going to need to be worked on from the middle up. Which is weird! I don't normally do that. I know a few writers that do but it's not something I'd do myself! I just couldn't wait to write it the scene practically wrote itself. I lost the muse for this story such a long time ago, and honestly considered it abandoned but I was enticed back and talking about the story and getting suggestions/sound board caused the muse to return with just a nibble. Those of you that have a story that's giving you trouble, a soundboard is what you need believe me it can work wonders! Even on a muse that's been lost for…what near a decade perhaps? I know the chapters have all been smaller as of late, but I'm hoping to cut back the overtime a little (not sure how likely that is with winter and Xmas) but I'll try I do want to get back to writing as often as I used to!
This is for FFN readers – I don't get messages from FFN at all, not reviews not PM's so if you've written any messages, I won't receive them I'm sorry but any questions can be answered on my Facebook group if you're interested in joining!
Also, this story will be finished even if there are no more Out Of The Darkness on the schedule I'm determined to get it done while there's muses!
Also, there's MPreg in this story, I'm not a 100% sure if I explicitly stated as such. The other version had made it more than clear that he was (and truthfully, I forgot entirely until it was mentioned in the chat) it's made VERY clear in the next chapter :D I honestly can't wait to post it I had a lot of fun writing it but might not be for everyone R&R and take care everyone stay safe you're all amazing thank you for all the Kudos and reviews