The Forest For The Trees

Chapter II: Rabbit hole

July 18, 2001

"I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then." - Lewis Carroll

Zoë:

"Faster girls!" Zoe barked out to her fellow huntresses as they sprinted through the menagerie of trees and shrubbery of Yosemite National Park, "He and his pack are close, we almost have him!"

Zoë and the huntresses have been chasing Lycaon and his werewolves across North America for the past four years now. Finally, they were close to finishing their duty of purging him from this world for at least a couple of decades before he eventually makes his way back to the surface. After thirty minutes of nonstop sprinting, Zoë came to a slow jogging gait to catch her breath. Even a centuries-old huntress like Zoë Nightshade could get tired. As she slowed her pace, she felt a divine presence appear next to her and already knowing who it was, Zoë turned and bowed her head respectfully to her oldest friend, the person she trusted most in her whole life.

"M'lady," Zoë said while a small curl of her lips grew into a soft smile, "He's close, I can't seem to get rid of the smell of wet dog that is pervading my nostrils."

Artemis's lips twitched and she nodded her head to her lieutenant. "Indeed, Zoë, the mongrel, and his ilk are near. I have been longing for a new pelt to grace my tent, it has been bare as of late."

Zoë let out a quiet laugh at her lady's joke while the two picked up their pace and began running through the forest. Zoë and Artemis were silent for a few seconds before Zoë turned towards her, asking, "Will thou be participating in this joyous hunt m'lady? Tis a bountiful and special hunt indeed m'lady."

Artemis nodded her head before finally smiling, it wasn't a warm smile, it was a smile full of teeth and feral joy. The moon seemed to glow brighter as she did this, the shadows and darkness receding from the forest because of the happiness of a moon goddess. "I will, Lycaon has been testing my patience with his cowardice and lowly tactics. I shall personally deal with him. Now my dear lieutenant, if you would kindly sound the call of the hunt."

Zoë's face gained the same smile as Artemis's, full of teeth and unmitigated passion. "Gladly m'lady," Zoë replied before pulling the small horn from her belt and drawing it to her lips.

'BEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH'

A massive baritone sound escaped from the enchanted horn and into the surrounding air and forest, letting all know that the hunters of Artemis have arrived and that a hunt is now afoot. Birds bursted out of the canopy of trees and flew through the night sky, animals of all shapes and sizes ran away from this area of the forest, all knew what this sound was, and not one of them wanted to be a trophy for Artemis.

Zoë and Artemis came to a stop, just ahead was a clearing where the trees stopped and the campground began. Zoë looked to Artemis as they got close to entering the clearing.

"I can feel his vile presence, he is here, but why has he not run?" Artemis murmured to herself as they finally exited the trees and walked into the campground, the hunters joined right behind the two and already had their bows taut and ready to fire as they also crossed the threshold.

Zoë gasped and she heard Artemis take a slight intake of air. There, in front of the two and the hunters, was Lycaon and his ilk... but what they weren't expecting was the massive amounts of vines and thorns surrounding the once cleared area and encapsulating all the werewolves. Bramble bushes the size of school busses with three lycanthropes stuck in the center, howling their pain and discontent to the world as they were stabbed all over their bodies by foot-long thorns. Another three lycanthropes were being constricted by vines with barbed tips piercing through their bodies, golden dust constantly leaking out of their gaping wounds as they gasped for air while thorns buried into their lungs, slowly pushing deeper into their bodies by every second.

And the final sight the hunters and Artemis saw was the so-called 'king' of wolves himself...hanging by his neck from a tree and softly swinging in the air like a macabre wind chime. His whole body was covered in wounds while he was transformed back into his human form. A silver and gold-colored kopis could be seen sticking through his chest, and golden dust slowly drifted into the air from the gushing wound similar to that of a broken hourglass. Black-matted hair covered half his face like a veil in penance and only one bloodshot eye could be seen, staring at the hunters with what could only be barely restrained fury at the sight of the hunters of Artemis. Soft gasping and wheezing sounds were escaping his mouth as his hands uselessly clawed at the thorned vine wrapped around his neck.

Under the strangling 'king' was a... golden statue? No. It was a child, a boy. A boy of around eight or so by Zoë's estimate, he was covered in so much golden dust he could have easily been mistaken for an effigy. He was just sitting under the choking lycanthrope holding onto the body of a man, his father, Zoë would presume and when she and Artemis walked close enough, Zoë grimaced at the grizzly sight of the man's face. Half of his face was clawed off with blood covering his other half while an unblemished line of skin curved upwards from the edge of his lip making him look like a morbid version of Thalia and Melpomene, the muses of comedy and tragedy.

Zoë's attention turned back to the boy himself, expecting to see him mourning over the corpse of his father but when she saw his face from under his golden 'dyed' chestnut hair, all she saw was nothing. No emotion raced across his face and his bright green eyes were like mirrors, reflecting everything back at her but not giving away anything of what was behind them. There was a vine wrapped around the boy's arm, softly stroking it like a mother would do to console their child. The goddess and lieutenant stood in front of the child and the corpse, not one word being exchanged between the two pairs. Zoë glanced at Artemis, not knowing what to do, in all her time as a huntress, this scenario had never happened to her before. When she looked at Artemis, she saw a sad and pitying frown worming its way onto her lady's usually aloof face and she noticed that Artemis had aged herself to a fully grown woman while she was studying the corpse of the boy's father. Then the goddess finally began to speak to the child.

Dorian:

He couldn't control it, whatever it was trying to crawl out of him. This feeling... he knows he felt this earlier but he couldn't remember what it was... it felt so hot, it was...boiling...blazing...scorching...scalding...searing...blistering...anger..rage..hatred, wroth, wrath, fury, malice, spite, acrimony, rancor, contempt, loathing, revenge...ahh...it was Vengean-"Boy."

Dorian blinked. He blinked once more. Again a third time. Confusion marred his face when he saw golden dust falling from his hair and landing softly on his face. He glanced up. 'Ah...', Dorian thought, staring up at the hanging lycanthrope 'king' with dull, jaded eyes. It wasn't a dream after all then. He felt warm liquid seeping onto his arm and shirt, and he glanced down. 'Ah', Dorian numbly thought, 'Dad...' he remembered now... all of it. The feeling of hopelessness, the feeling of numbness, then the feeling of wroth, and all the other synonyms encompassing him when he attacked the lycanthrope. It will be a welcome and common emotion to him now, Dorian mused, the feeling of Vengean-"Boy!"

Dorian glanced up in front of him quickly, feeling an underlying sense of urgency to listen to this voice, a need to appeal to this authority. What he saw was two women standing a couple of feet in front of him, looking down at him. His mind was screaming at him to turn to the oldest one first, the red-haired woman, she was standing in front of him with her hands clasped behind her back like a regal military commander. She wore a white and silver parka, with some hiking boots along with a white beanie on her head. Her face looked like it was sculpted by a god but the thing that stole his attention the most was her eyes. Her eyes were like molten silver, swirling with barely contained power, it was a dangerous sight, but beautiful nonetheless. This woman was not human and Dorian knew that for a fact, she was too perfect, inhumanly so.

The woman next to her wasn't actually a woman at all but was a teenage girl instead, sixteen or so by Dorian's estimate. She wore the same attire as the red-haired woman, she had dark brown eyes, deep brown hair, a slightly upturned nose, and copper-colored skin. The only thing that was different about her attire from the older woman was the silver circlet wrapped around her head. She looked almost like a princess from ancient times, a beautiful one at that.

Dorian remained quiet for a moment before keeping his gaze transfixed on the dark-haired girl. "Are you an angel?" Dorian murmured quietly to the teenager.

The brown and red-haired females glanced at each other when Dorian's question registered. The red-haired woman must have found the question amusing because her lips quirked upwards into a marginal smile and her silver eyes brightened and danced with mirth. The brown-haired girl gawked slightly at his words before looking back at her superior with a questioning face.

"What," The brown-haired girl replied back with a confused tone. Dorian continued to stare up at her with a hint of curiosity in his eyes.

"An angel, my dad said that only the most beautiful girls are angels, also you're wearing all white too," Dorian said innocently, with certainty in his tone.

Zoë:

'Are you an angel?' Zoë did not know how to respond to this, no one, especially not a male, had ever called her that before. Her lady clearly found the question and follow-up answer humorous but Zoë did not know what to feel. This boy has just gone through a traumatic experience, even by her definition of the word, and his father lay dead in his arms and the first words out of his mouth were those.

"Well, we will answer that question later, child." Lady Artemis said elusively with a mysterious smile set upon her features. Artemis must have sobered up to the situation at hand and went back to her normal expressionless face. She snapped her fingers and the moment after she did that, her huntresses fired their bows into the dying and wounded lycanthropes, killing all besides the 'king' who was still hanging almost limply above them.

"Now what has happened here, boy?" The goddess asked the child intensely, her moon-chipped orbs staring into his verdant green eyes, daring him to lie. The boy continued to gaze into her goddess's eyes and Zoë saw his own darken with memories of what had transpired here earlier.

"Papa and I were going to be camping all week because of my academic performance," the boy said woodenly and began telling his story to Zoë and Artemis. His eyes glazed over from reciting all of what happened. While he was telling what had ensued earlier, Zoë glanced up to see Lycaon continuing to be strangled by the barbed vine wrapped around his neck. Zoë inclined her head and gestured silently to Artemis and her goddess quickly caught on to what she was motioning to before looking back down to the child holding his dead father.

"What is your name boy?" Artemis said almost gently to the child, glancing over to his arm where another vine was tenderly stroking his arm before looking back into his tortured green eyes.

"My name is Dorian... Dorian Blackwood." The now-named Dorian replied softly

Dorian:

"Dorian, release the repugnant creature." The red-haired woman said, looking up at the monster still being hanged and strangled.

Dorian also looked up and his still inky green eyes darkened even more so as that familiar feeling came back. The thorned vine constricted even tighter around Lycaon's throat digging the barbs deeper into his neck causing the werewolf 'king' to make an even louder choking noise. His limp arms quickly leapt into action and tried to find purchase around the vine but it was to no avail. Dorian enjoyed the sensation and he didn't want to let this feeling go, the feeling of power over this monster, the feeling of being able to direct his anger to this monster, the feeling of enacting his revenge on the perpetrator of his pain, the feeling of vengean-"Dorian." The red-haired woman said with a warning tone, something primal in Dorian told him to listen to her command and he quickly followed her instructions.

Dorian followed his instincts and the woman's command, mentally ordering the vine to loosen, causing the monster to fall and plummet into the middle of the campground. Hacking and coughing noises could be heard from Lycaon before a yelp of pain immediately followed as a silver arrow slammed into each of his extremities while the kopis was still stabbed to the hilt in his chest.

"Artemis...so good...to see you again hehe," Lycaon wheezed out before groaning in pain again as the brown-haired teenager closed in on him and gave him a swift but very harsh backhand to the face. "Ohh I haven't forgotten you either, little miss Nightshade," Lycaon quipped/growled out before howling in agony when the now-named Artemis walked over to his crucified form and stepped on the kopis pierced into his chest, causing it to drive further into his body.

"Lycaon," Artemis drawled, "still being a nuisance to your superiors I see." Artemis crossed her arms while looking down at Lycaon like he was a piece of dung stuck to the bottom of her boot. The wolf-man just snarled at her words while trying to escape his capture but he wailed in anguish when Artemis pushed her foot further down on the kopis in his torso, driving it even deeper into him. "Be a good dog and keep your snout shut while your betters are talking, you wretched cur," Artemis said to Lycaon coldly.

"The day will come when the age of the Olympians ceases, a second Titanomachy will come and I will be waiting...you will suffer by my hands Artemis Letoias!" Lycaon yelled out while a crazed grin of only teeth spread across his features, looking more like a wolf now than ever before. Artemis's eyes widened and a deep scowl came across her features. She suddenly stepped off the sword and pulled the kopis out of his chest before stabbing it deep into his forehead with a disgusting 'schlup' sound. Lycaon's last expression on his face was still that unsettling wolfish grin before his body shifted into golden dust, scattering into the wind.

Artemis watched the shining granules until they all vanished, she took a long intake of breath before exhaling. Without turning her head, she began to pick up the four silver arrows implanted in the ground while saying to the brown-haired girl, "Zoë, help the boy, give the man a proper burial, he protected a child. Then let us pack up, this hunt is over."

The now-named Zoë inclined her head slightly in acknowledgment before turning to Dorian. "Here, I will help thee." Zoë said before walking over to Dorian, calmly pushing his hands away and picking Dorian's father up with no strain at all. Dorian numbly watched Zoë carry his father over to the edge of the clearing, setting the corpse down on a bundle of old firewood. Dorian just watched before standing up and joining her next to his dad.

Zoë turned to him, glancing down at his blood-soaked shirt and pants, she frowned slightly but did not say a word to him. She handed him two large golden coins, before gesturing to his father.

"Here, these drachmas will be an appropriate amount for the ferryman to give passage to thy father when he goes to the underworld," Zoë told him quietly, motioning for him to place the two coins; the size of Girl Scout cookies, onto his fathers' eyelids. Dorian just looked down at the two coins in his hand before slowly nodding his head and placing the two drachmas on his father's face; when he did so, he stared at his father for a couple of seconds, finally feeling the whole night's events catching up to him.

"What...is going on, why is this happening?" Dorian whispered shakily while clenching his fists so hard his knuckles started to whiten.

Zoë remained quiet for a moment as she stood next to the boy, watching his emotionless expression finally start to crack. "Thou are a demigod, the Greek Gods are real and thee is the son of a goddess, a powerful one at that. Monsters hunt demigods and thou either kills the monster or thou dies, that is all." Zoë replied softly as she grabbed a lit torch from one of the hunters when they passed by. "Does thou have any last words for thy father?" Zoë asked Dorian.

Dorian paused for a moment, processing all the information and the question that Zoë had given him before shaking his head and giving a quiet 'no' to her. Zoë nodded her head and tossed the torch onto the makeshift pyre, lighting the dry firewood on fire. The two watched the fire magically accelerate until it fully covered the funeral pyre and the dead man in it. All that was left after just a few minutes was ash and the smell of freshly baked bread wafting through the air. Dorian couldn't help himself, even in this moment of despair, he smiled softly at the smell of the bread, it was nostalgic to him for some odd reason.

Zoë turned to him with a knowing gaze as he smiled at the smell before saying to Dorian, "Come, I am sure m'lady would like to speak to thee for a few moments."

Dorian stared at the spot where the funeral pyre used to be, watching the last few embers die out before nodding his head and following Zoë back to the makeshift huntress camp now made in the center of the clearing.

In the center of the huntresses' camp was a tent far bigger than the others, its silver canvas shining illustriously in the moonlight. As soon as Dorian and Zoë walked through the open flap of the tent, Dorian gaped slightly at the sight. The inside of the tent was much more spacious than it should have been, it was as wide and long as half the size of a basketball court and was filled to the brim with countless trophies. Untold numbers of animal skins garnished the floors and walls, and tusks and horns from what looked like every single land and sea creature were on display in glass cases, there were even heads of every known large animal in North America mounted onto the canvased walls. But the thing that drew his eye the most was the roof; or lack thereof, the roof was transparent and showed every constellation and star in the night sky with incredible detail along with the biggest moon he had ever seen before, so bright and close that Dorian felt like all he had to do was reach out and he could touch it.

"I see that you approve of my home, good, that means you have good taste, even for a boy." Dorian heard a voice say with a slight mirthful tint to it. He glanced around till he spotted her, Artemis was lounging on a fur-covered chair in front of a roaring fire, and right next to her was a white-tailed deer that she was petting. She looked younger than he recalled; looking to be only twenty at the oldest before remembering who she actually was, Dorian kneeled quickly and lowered his head in what he hoped was enough respect for an Olympian goddess.

"Lady Artemis," Dorian said hesitantly while still kneeling and bowing his head; out of the corner of his eye, he saw Zoë walk, joining her goddess and standing to her left.

"A boy showing me respect, now I have truly seen it all, isn't that right lieutenant?" Artemis said with a soft chuckle, at hearing her laugh, Dorian slowly lifted his head carefully and stared up at the pair.

"Why yes m'lady, this one clearly has more manners than most of his ilk," Zoë replied with an impish grin while looking at him. Artemis giggled at the joke before schooling her features. She stopped petting the silver-colored deer and waved her hand, causing the deer to run past him and out of the open tent flaps.

"Now, Dorian Blackwood," Dorian shivered slightly at her using his full name, "I am sure my lieutenant has told you what you are and what the real world actually is. You are now at a dangerous crossroads boy," Artemis said while leaning forward and out of her chair to stare deeply into his eyes, her molten silver orbs piercing into his own bright green ones. "Will you quiver and cower in fear at this new reality before eventually being killed off by a vagabond monster, I wonder? Or, will you learn to fight and be of use to yourself and your fellow demigods hmm?" Artemis asked him, making it seem like there was an obvious answer to this question, and seeing it from this view, Dorian was inclined to agree that there was one.

Dorian licked his slightly chapped lips nervously before answering, "Other...demigods my lady?"

Artemis nodded her head before reclining back into her furred chair, saying to him, "There is a place on the East Coast for demigods like you, there, you will be able to train to protect yourself and be at least somewhat safe. Did you think you were the only one of your kind?"

Dorian grasped for words to say, suddenly feeling out of depth even more so than before, "I...this is all just so sudden my lady, everything is...I...don't know what to do...I'm only eight." Dorian managed to let out as his eyes started to be obstructed with unshed tears.

Artemis stared at him, no emotion leaking out for him to see, before slowly reaching behind her and grabbing what looked to be an old sailing compass from atop her ivory-tusked desk and tossing it to him through the fire. Dorian fumbled to catch it before it fell to the floor and just barely managed to do so.

"What do you want most in the world right now boy?" Artemis asked him softly, almost leadingly, Dorian looked down at the compass resting in his hands and slowly opened it. The arrow marking north pointed to Artemis and Zoë for a second before it wildly started to spin around in multiple directions.

"I want..." Dorian whispered loud enough for the other two in the tent to hear while he continued gazing at the spinning arrow of the compass, almost mesmerized by it. Its wildly revolving arrow almost brings him a sense of comfort from the trials and tribulations of this day, like he and the compass were the same, both running around, not knowing what to do. "Family..." Dorian finally uttered, and the arrow immediately came to a stop, pointing to the southeast.

Artemis nodded approvingly at his answer, giving him a ghost of a smile. "This compass will point you to what you want most in the world child, so follow it, don't ever betray it, it knows you more than you know yourself," Artemis said to him almost cryptically, just then, the deer ran back into the tent carrying something in its mouth. It stopped right in front of Artemis and dropped the item into her open palm, it...it was...his dad's sword!

Artemis studied the blade for a few moments while holding it up to the light of the roaring fire, "Hmm, a blade of three different metals...celestial bronze...silver...and stygian iron, a blade to kill all living and unliving creatures. A fine kopis indeed." She muttered before standing up and walking over to Dorian's kneeling form, she handed the blade to him, and Dorian took the sword almost reverently, as it was the last thing to remember his father by.

"This blade was used to kill the 'king'," Artemis almost spitted the word out like it left a bad taste in her mouth, "of lycanthropes, Lycaon and so, it shall be christened with a name." She said as she stared into Dorian's eyes, "Lycoctonum," Artemis said with almost a feral grin.

"Wolf's bane..." Dorian said with awe as he looked at the blade in his hands, it transformed back into his father's wedding ring and was thusly placed on the ring finger of his left hand; then he started blinking owlishly for a moment before glancing back up at Artemis and then to Zoë, "Wait? I can understand Greek?" Zoë just laughed softly at his confused face before nodding her head at him.

It was first light and after a couple of hours of fitful sleep, Dorian and the rest of the hunters were all packed and ready to leave. They were leaving to go to somewhere near San Francisco, while Dorian would begin on his journey to reach the place Artemis mentioned on the East Coast, New Corinth is what she called it.

"The hunt has ended, so I will be unable to help you anymore child but follow the compass and you will make it to New Corinth," Artemis said with a slight nod of her head. "Now, you better be safe child, even if you are a boy, I will be disappointed if I do not see you when I and my hunters venture there later on in the next few years." Artemis quipped to Dorian with a small smile on her face.

Dorian smiled thankfully at her and said, "I appreciate everything you have done for me, lady Artemis, than you."

Artemis inclined her head softly again before turning around to head back to the group of hunters who were waiting at the edge of the clearing. Dorian turned to Zoë who was still waiting there. "Zoë...thank you...for helping me, for the funeral for my father...everything...thank you," Dorian said earnestly to her, Zoë smiled softly at him before reaching her hand up to pat his cheek softly, she then turned around and started walking to join her lady and hunters.

Zoë:

"You never did answer my question," Zoë heard from behind her when she was feet away from the hunters. Turning around Zoë saw Dorian on the other side of the clearing, staring at her with a grin on his face. "What?" Zoë called back to him with a confused look.

"Are you an angel?"

Zoë blushed so hard that it could even be seen on her copper skin, her fellow hunters laughing at her as they started walking into the woods, leaving the boy alone in the clearing.

"Well, do we have to worry about the great Zoë Nightshade of the hunters of Artemis having feelings for a boy eh?" Phoebe asked Zoë as they were making their way through the woods, Zoë just shot her a grouchy look even while still blushing, Phoebe just laughed and held up her hands appeasingly to her.

"Now now Phoebe, leave the angel alone and get back to point duty" Zoë heard Artemis say, all the hunters snickered at their lady's joke while Zoë groaned into her hands, knowing she wouldn't hear the end of this for days to come. Even still, there was a small smile still on her face.

'Dorian...'

Author's notes:

Alright guys, tell me whatcha think, yea yea, I had to do the good old Anakin/Padme line, couldn't help myself, and I also stole Jack Sparrow's compass, maybe Artemis killed him or something lol.

I will definitely come back to edit this and the first chapter later on, but I just wanted to finish this before I go back to college, so let me know what you think kay?

The next chapter will be a time skip of a few months and also, did I make the hunters and Artemis too lax? I mean Dorian is only 8, he's not even a teenager yet and Artemis is also the goddess of children so I thought she would be fair to him yknow, let me know.

Reviews are always appreciated

Yea, I'm sure you all know so ima say it, Zoë/Dorian is the pairing but that isn't gonna happen till the titan's curse so it is a while away, shit they're not even going to see each other for a few years till I age him up.

-Just a letter-