Pan, the God of the Wild was fading.

That was set in stone and written as such by the fates themselves.

This hadn't been an instantaneous thing. No, this was built up over two thousand years ago.

As humans had evolved they also saw it fit to expand further as well. Flat lands full of lush grass and flowers and as many animals as one could see were turned into factories, entire forests were turned into cities, trees were cut down to create mass amounts of paper and other supplies.

All of this was a factor that led to Pan's downfall.

Most other gods were able to survive modernization because their authorities followed closely enough to the key essentials that human beings still used.

People lived under the sun and worshiped the sun and as such, he was still around. Mankind's greatest gift was fire and so Hephaestus survived, love was key more than ever in modern society and so Aphrodite had found a place.

Not everyone did and the child of Hermes could not.

Perhaps if Pan had tried hard enough to survive he could have. But the truth was, Pan didn't want to survive. There was no purpose he saw in life and seeing his kingdom be destroyed was the worst blow that one could have dealt to him.

Zeus or the others wouldn't help him. They stayed mostly hands-off when it came to humans progressing, preferring to watch from a respectable distance.

And so, the truth was, Pan was dying.

No. That wouldn't be entirely correct. To say one is dying would indicate life.

He has been dead for years now.

But death didn't erase his ideals, his regrets, his anger. No, it festered, growing like a swollen thumb. With tweaking from a primordial, such concepts were perverted even further, until it became something sinister all together.

A new being was formed from this. It was Pan perhaps in core alone. This entity had an entirely new identity.

Anthropoktónos.

Human killer.

Being born, it was formed with little thoughts. But it was given a 'suggestion' by some force it couldn't understand.

"E̶x̶t̶e̶r̶m̶i̶n̶a̶t̶e̶ a̶n̶y̶ t̶h̶a̶t̶ t̶h̶r̶e̶a̶t̶e̶n̶s̶ w̶i̶l̶d̶ l̶i̶f̶e̶!"

Shirou gritted his teeth as his mighty shield met the silver beam of light.

The resulting exchange created a brilliant light of silver and purple which trailed off on both sides.

Shirou struggled to keep his hand up and his mana supply steady on the conceptual shield.

He heard the sounds of screams from the girls but couldn't even begin to discern them as he was far too focused maintaining the shield and defending them.

"Garrghh! Ahhh!"

Shirou could feel his ribs cracking as the shield was starting to break. Their target, the Lamia seemed to be supplying the beam of light from the moon itself. Shirou stood no chance outright blocking it. Not an attack that held such thick divinity.

So he sought to mitigate the damage. He would try and take all of the injuries onto himself. Perhaps—

Wait. When did he start thinking like this?

He wasn't that type of person. He had tried that route before and it didn't end up well.

So why was he thinking like that?

We might die here… and if not that, then we will make it out of this seriously wounded.

He wasn't sure he was ready to throw his life away. These people weren't his friends and he hardly considered them allies. But it seemed that they would find union in death.

Just as he thought that, a bright light shone in the air. It blinded Shirou and caused him to briefly cancel his shield.

"Shit!"

He panicked and expected to die right then and there.

Nothing came.

He opened his eyes. He was greeted to the sun hovering high above the skies.

He blinked several times, looking around.

He saw the other hunters all seemingly unconscious. Their faint moving was the only indication he had that they were even alive at all.

All was unconscious except two. Zoë, not too surprising. He was already starting to see that she was a tough woman.

But surprisingly, the other hunter conscious was Amaryllis. The one he had traced the knife of.

It shocked him that she was still conscious because so far, she had been the meekest of them all, never quite glaring at him or showing distaste towards him. Just neutrality.

He walked over to them and stumbled, falling to his knees and began hacking up blood.

"Yeah… a rib is cracked…"

Blood could be seen on his new clothing. Looking at his left arm he noticed it entirely tan. He could also feel his circuits were empty and it made him feel numb.

He crawled over to Zoë. He didn't see her as his leader but acknowledged her as the person who could best see everyone to safety.

She was breathing heavily on her back. Overall, she looked very bad.

He called out to her, only to remember that she was deaf and wouldn't be able to hear him. He approached her more. He shook her, as her eyes was wide and frantic

She's delirious. She was already in horrible shape before. But now she is even worse. She might not even make it.

He left her and turned to Amaryllis who noticed him as well.

"How did I… make it out of that, conscious when everyone else…"

"It doesn't matter right now, Amaryllis. We need to bring everyone and leave."

"How? We are only two people, we can't bring dozens of people with us, that's impossible." She said, her eyes watering a little. "And- and the Lamia. She is hunting us! I recognized what she did, I would know that anywhere, she used Lady Artemis' authority. That means…"

He had come to that conclusion as well. The power had seemed to be drawn from the moonlight itself.

"Trickery was likely involved." Shirou finished. "Lamia didn't strike me as an absurdly powerful monster. Definitely not stronger than Artemis. Which means that she likely didn't even kill her—couldn't—kill her. Can you feel the connection to her?"

She paused for a moment as she seemed focused.

"Yes… it's faint, though."

"Then likely she's imprisoned somewhere. Which means we can expect no help from her here…"

"Hey! Artemis is doing the best she can to get out."

"Did she tell you that?" Shirou said, coldly. "No? Didn't think so. We need to be realistic. We are all in danger right now and are no different from rabbits in the field. Do you hunters have somewhere we can go?"

Amaryllis recoiled at his sudden demeanor change but still replied.

"There is one…a place where monsters cannot get in. Its name is Camp Half-Blood. A home for demigods. We have our own cabin there, we can go there."

"Where is it?"

"New York, Long Island."

So they would need to head east, if he was correct. Then, once they had arrived he would separate from them and find his way back to Japan.

Although, who knew what was waiting for him there. Julian and Angelica were still around and he had a feeling that they had some scheme planned.

"Then we'll wait until some of the others wake up. Hopefully Phoebe or one of the other healers will awake first."

He walked up to them, tracing various futons so they could rest more comfortably.

"Come. Help me put them in these." He told her as she seemed dumbstruck and unfocused.

She complied but a question was on her mind he could sense.

He sighed.

"You want to ask something?"

He already knew where this was going.

"… Who exactly are you? You protected us. All of us."

"Well, if I didn't protect you all, I would also die. It was just a matter of convenience."

"I don't believe that…"

"And I'm not asking you to. The bigger question you should be asking right now is why it just went from midnight to early morning in the span of a minute."

"I don't…"

She paused as it seemed like realization had come to her. She brightened up considerably.

"It's Lord Apollo, Artemis' brother! He is the sun god, he must have accelerated the day so that the sun would come out and that monster wouldn't get any more power from her." Amaryllis exclaimed.

"But why did she run away? She had us?" Shirou countered.

"I can't say for certain but I think she got scared. Artemis is one thing but Apollo is a monster in his own right. He wouldn't be as easy to trap. She knew this as well."

"Then where is he? We could use his help right about now."

Amaryllis gave her best shrug.

"That… I don't know."

Great. That still leaves us nowhere…

They salvaged all of the material they had survived the blast—which wasn't much— and settled in. Plans were made and this is what they had decided to do.

They would stay in the area until nightfall. By then, the other hunters should be awake and they could head over to the mountainous areas where it would be easier to spot any enemies. Traveling by the mountains would also be a shorter route to civilization.

Shirou held a hand up to his stomach as he walked around the area. His ribs were cracked or broken, he couldn't tell, meaning that moving around a lot wasn't viable. Amaryllis had surprisingly offered to do the work of putting the girls in the futon and making sure they were comfortable. Shirou sat in a tent that he had traced.

There was little he could do but the one thing he could do was establish a bounded field. It was a basic area of magecraft that he had studied and was decently proficient at. Not enough for it to do much besides alert him of any intruders, but helpful.

When he set it up, he had modified it to look out for those with divine energies or in other words—spirits. That was what the divine were at the end of the day. He used the divine blood running through Amaryllis as a reference point.

He was able to rest easier because of it and able to more properly analyze his body structure.

He had small amounts of internal bleeding, nothing that would be serious but if left unchecked it certainly could be. He had a few marks around his body that would heal by itself and his knee was a little sore.

Overall, he wasn't in the best of shape for fighting. Luckily, when Phoebe wakes up he could ask her to heal him. Hopefully her healing was good enough for that. For now, he was stuck taking it easy.

He heard rustling as Amaryllis moved through the flap of the tent. She sat down a comfortable distance away,

Shirou quirked an eyebrow.

"Did something happen?"

"No. I just… I didn't want to be alone right now." She stated. "It's been a crazy twenty four hours… or I guess however many hours have passed since the sun rose up early."

"Yeah."

"Our goddess is gone, my allies are unconscious, this is the worst situation we have ever been in."

"Things will look up." He said. His words rang hollow even to himself.

"Will it? Hope doesn't seem like it exists right now. We were spared but for how long? The moon was our safe haven. We could trust that with its rising we would be unstoppable, protected from all that would harm us. Now? I'm not sure."

Shirou threw pieces of grass into the fire that was lit in the middle. He watched as the grass dissolved into smoke near instantly.

"I think the same thing." He suddenly said, surprising her and making her look at him. "No matter what choice I make or what I do, I can always accomplish very little. Misfortune follows in my footsteps. It and I are intertwined."

"…"

"I probably should be trying to cheer you up in your darkest hour but I would be a hypocrite doing so. My life is one bad thing after the next. This is just another step."

"I wish I could turn back time. This isn't right. All of this bad stuff that happened to us in such a small time span. I bet you wish you could as well, huh?"

"No. Absolutely not." He replied, shocking her. "This path that I took… it led to suffering, sure and I can call my life misfortunate but…"

He stared at the flames.

Images flashed to him of his loved ones. Kiritsugu, Sakura, Miyu…

He remembered his choices, what he had done in those moments.

"… I was able to do what I sought out to do from the beginning because of the pain I had faced. I was able to save the one I loved the most…

More memories came to him. Feeling Miyu leaving this world, somewhere far away where nobody could harm her. Where she could live a normal life, perhaps find a new family… a fresh start.

Amaryllis gave a sad smile, one filled with a mix of hidden emotions. She had her head down as if she was resurfacing old memories locked away.

"I wish I could say the same. My entire life was decided the moment I was born. My true identity is that of a nymph, the daughter of Phasis. My father had never placed any true value in me. Why would he? I am just one of hundreds of his daughters. We come and go as often as water streams."

"And so, my father married me off. I didn't have a problem with that. I knew what my duty was. What my destiny was, as were my fellow sisters.

But the problem was my betrothed. My betrothed was not a good man but I was weak. I let him do as he pleased because I feared the consequences of disobeying him. If it wasn't for Lady Artemis' intervention I would be there now as his plaything."

Shirou could see her nearly start to tear up. He felt awkward now.

"Artemis is everything I ever admired. She is strong, confident… beautiful. When she found me I was instantly enamored, she has that way about her. But the main reason I liked her was because I could assert myself into her. To make up for my lack of confidence I wanted to emulate her. She made me feel like I had some type of control in my life in a time where we women have little. I think that is true for many here as well. Nobody hates you despite what you might think. They are all just hurt. They have been through a lot over the centuries. Look at us. We are young girls, we stopped aging at the age that we looked like and as such we lack in certain areas. Combined with our own assortment of problems and well…"

She trailed off from her rant, looking at him now.

"You speak of her as if she's gone. You said it yourself. She is alive. As long as even the slightest embers of a fire is left, there is still hope for it to reignite."

The words—true heartfelt words— came out of him out of nowhere. He wasn't this type of person. He couldn't be.

"What the boy says is true, Amaryllis…" A voice said, opening up the flap. Grouped up together was the other hunters. Some leaned on the others for support but they all seemed fine. Phoebe stepped in first, making eye contact with him. "Perhaps men do have their uses…"

She approached him and he stood stock still.

"Lift your shirt." He did as she bid him to do. She grimaced, seeing the pink skin. "Internal bleeding. Your… shield. It protected us and yet you still suffered a lot of damage."

"That's the drawback to using it. Whatever damage it sustains my body mirrors. I was able to reduce the damage of the blast by reducing the range of the shield which let a lot of it spread off into the forests. Unfortunately, before I could do much more…"

Phoebe nodded.

"Yes. My father rode his chariot up far earlier than what was natural. This will certainly come with dire consequences towards him. But I will need his assistance. Come, I can heal you best outside."

She walked out and Shirou moved to follow. As he got up on both feet, he wobbled, almost falling to the floor. He was grabbed by Amaryllis before that could happen as she held him back by the chest.

"Come… lean on me."

"But…"

"Just do it!"

He complied, letting her take the lead on bringing him out. He felt the sun's rays again, shining down. The heat had gotten to the point that the snow was starting to dissolve at a far earlier time.

He shielded his eyes as they walked to an area where his traced futons were already placed on the floor.

He got onto one of them with Amaryllis' help and leaned back like he was suntanning. He noticed to his right that Zoë was there except she was unconscious now.

"She's in worse shape than she looks." Phoebe said, above him. "She protected us, saved us from that modified empousa. And by herself at that. That is why she is the lieutenant and the one that Lady Artemis trusts the most."

"Yeah…"

The sun's rays encompassed his entire form, bathing him in warmth. He lost feeling in his body as he let himself be consumed.

When he awoke it was now nearing night time and the sun was halfway there to being replaced by the moon.

The atmosphere was bathed in an orange light, making it look almost ethereal.

When he got up he expected to feel his ribs rustling and his body aching.

That wasn't the case. He felt fine and alive.

He put a hand to his chest and analyzed himself which confirmed it.

He looked to see Zoë still unconscious of course. H

"You're up, huh?" He looked to see one of the hunters—Areti— walking towards him.

"Yeah. How long have I been asleep?"

"About eight hours." She replied, much to his shock.

Shit! I let my guard down. When I'm unconscious I can't sense anything…

He focused on his bounded field. He felt nothing.

But something felt wrong.

"Why are you looking so dazed? Come. We are waiting for you."

He followed and they arrived where all the hunters (minus Zoë were.)

They all had somber faces that stayed when they saw him. He walked quietly up to them. He saw Amaryllis pat a spot next to her. He sat there.

They sat there in silence for a moment until Phoebe spoke first.

"We need to talk. All of us on how we will proceed. We are in more danger than ever before and I fear that this may have to do with something far bigger than we can deal with."

"Your father's Apollo, right?" He asked the woman. She nodded. "Have you tried contacting him or any of the other gods?"

"We have." She replied. "When I tried praying to Apollo, he didn't respond. Likely not because he didn't want to but because he had already broke ancient laws."

"Ancient laws?" He questioned, confused.

"Yes." She said, grimly. "The gods and other immortals are bound by sacred oaths that have been around for eons. Breaking one of them is paramount to extreme torture. My father broke two, although their severity is different. The first one was interfering with the battle. Zeus has forbidden this and prefers they merely observe unless necessary to interfere. This one I am not worried about. Zeus enforces the rule and so he will likely let him pass. It's the second one that would have dire consequences for him."

"What is it?"

Her face grew sad.

"He broke a rule that all immortals follow, no matter what, which is moving the sun at an irregular time. He saved us by doing this but threatened the order of the world. The mist cannot hide it. That means the Moirai will get involved. His fate will be decided by them alone but one thing that I'm certain of is that he will not be allowed to interfere again."

Her words sunk into them all.

"What about the other gods?" Thelka asked.

"Why we cannot reach them, I don't have the answer to. But if I had to explain it in an allegory, we're caught in a web of whatever force we're facing."

"Then the objective is to get out of this forest as quickly as possible, huh?" Amaryllis said.

Phoebe nodded.

"The monster's goal is to exterminate us down to the last one. There has to be a reason why they are so adamant. This is just conjecture but I believe that they are planning something big and if we're around then they are not confident they could win such a collision."

"Then our next objective is obvious." Shirou spoke up, getting the hunters to look at him. "We need to leave this forest. Since the majority of us are awake, now would be the best time. If we head west we will arrive at New York and there your protection is guaranteed, right?"

"But they will know that we will go there. That is the most predictable route. Many monsters will try and interfere." One of the hunters said.

"Then we will do what we are created to do and kill them!" Amaryllis said, gaining some confidence.

A good amount of the hunters nodded in agreement at that.

"She is right." Phoebe said. "Even with our goddess gone our purpose hasn't changed one bit. We are still hunters and will eliminate monsters as we have done for thousands of years! We cannot back down because we have faced a considerable challenge! We will fight!"

"Aye!"

"We won't give up."

"And we will give glory to our goddess!"

"Aye!" They all chorused.

"Then let us go!" Phoebe stood up and swept her hand across the area. "Hunters! Pack up like usual, you all know the drill. I want no signs that we were ever here!"

They all moved with frightening efficiency, wasting little time talking and gathered all of the salvageable gear.

There wasn't much but they did what they could. As he was about to walk away and help in some way someone stopped him.

"Shirou…"

He turned around to see Phoebe standing there.

"Yes?" He regarded her.

"Come. Let's walk and talk."

He nodded and they made their way throughout a random path.

"Thank you…" He started, surprising her. "For healing me."

"It was hardly me who did anything. It was my father's power."

"But it was still through you, wasn't it? That means it's your power. I know a little bit about borrowing power." Shirou sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You can see the results clear as day."

"What happened to you? You have two different pigmentations and it has been growing more and more."

"Overuse of my abilities has caused it. There's a lot more to it than just that but…"

She nodded.

"Yes, you have your secrets. However, I must warn you. Those abilities you've exhibited, they have likely not gone unnoticed. Sooner or later the gods will find you or worse…" She trailed off.

He gave a hollow nod.

"I hope to be gone by then."

"Possibly. Civilization is far from here and we have a long road to go."

Phoebe grew serious.

"Shirou…" She started. "We are allies for the time being as we work for the same goals and you have proven yourself to be reliable and strong. But do remember that this is only temporary, nothing more. Zoë has declared you as such a member until everything is sorted and that is that."

"… I know."

"I'm sure you do. You are reasonable enough. It is nothing personal, truly, but there is a reason why I am saying this."

"…?"

"It is because of he who is forbidden from being spoken of. Should I disclose the events I am afraid that it might come to pass or worse…"

Shirou felt goosebumps go down his skin at her words. Who could she be talking about? It was clearly a male, but someone who seemed to terrify even Phoebe who was hardly fazed even while staring death in the face against Lamia.

"But know this, what he did was exploit the one loop hole that all of us hunters have—"

"—Including Artemis."

Done.

Not much to say here, a pretty chill chapter overall after all of that excitement. It'll pick back up in the next chapter. It's already fully done. That's gonna be fun. But let me tell you, it's hard writing original content. Pretty much everything I've done is made up. But it's fun to think about at work and stuff so I guess that's the good thing.

Before I let you all go, here are some other stories that I've already written. Which one do you guys want to be posted (all of them will likely be posted soon enough.)

An original Percy Jackson exclusive fic, featuring my creative take on the story. It's already about 3 chapters in and I've set the scenes for a massive war between Zeus and Poseidon with Percy in the middle. Also I can use a lot of underrated Greek mythology characters.

A fate/stay night original fic much like the former where I explore the world exclusively. I have soo many ideas with that fic, it's crazy and I think I've released one of my favorite chapters ever there.

A Spider-Man origins, remastered. Epic stuff.

For all the RWBY lovers, a Jaune fic after the Fall of Beacon. Giving the world of RWBY some much needed development and character-building. \

Naruto in DxD Kyoto.

Diarmuid in the Danmachi verse.

And then besides that I wanted to do a far superior version of Distorted because I know people love the Percy Servant stuff. I have a sheet made and everything of how I'll make him. Let me know what you like.