"Now that Orion's dead, I believe it's time to throw back to her world" The same reptiles that constrained Orion out of the cell returned to check on Artemis.
Black clouds formed over her head, her eyes had lost focus, and her breathing was shallow. Her arm was grabbed, but released in a split-second.
"Damn, she overheated too much! A little more and she'd have been dead."
"Humans" The lizardman on the other side rolled his eyes at how emotional she got "Let's get rid of her already. She's stinking up the place." She was dragged by her chain to closest gateway near the dungeon.
"And I was looking forward to contestant 99's death. I guess I put too much hope in it."
"What if we killed her now? Would it matter?" The two reptiles stopped in their tracks to discuss what they should do with her.
"Let's just act on the old beastman's orders" The reptiles didn't want to let her go easily, but they didn't have a choice. They feared to risk punishments, and the Demigod never pardons.
They tossed Artemis through the gate, and it closed, hindering any unauthorized usage. She landed on her arm and stayed in an uncomfortable position for a while, wondering if she should really get up, or just stay there.
The human gatekeepers stared down at her, chills running down their spine and making the little hairs on their bodies erect.
The small body lying on the soil frightened them. The guards thought of it as a trap of some sort. The beastmen on the other side played awful pranks on them in the past. They wondered if that day was any different.
Artemis got on her feet, aching everywhere in her joints. The few men reacted to the unexpected move of the girl they thought was dead. They shifted backwards and pointed their spears. Sweat glistening on their round faces and their hands tremored.
Artemis ignored. She looked through the parchment, and the first thing that was written was the place Sirsis. She situated her dull eyes on a random man and moved towards him.
"Stay back!!!" Panic impacted the tone of his voice as he ordered her to stop moving, but she didn't. She stopped when her neck was an inch close to the sharp weapon.
"Do you know where Sirsis is?" The fact she could speak left them stunned.
She waited for an answer, but she got none, so she left them in their statue state, and headed for a path to the unknown.
At night, it was just herself and the flames of her campfire. Occasionally she'd hear hoots of owls, the sigh of the trees in the wind, and the cracking of dry twigs underfoot.
She was cold and scared to close her eyes. It felt like something or someone was staring at her in the devouring darkness. She had to get to Sirsis, and she needed to do it fast. The world was so big; she didn't know how long it would take before she gets there. She had no map, and no instructions or hints about it apart from Anna being there.
She thought of giving up, but another part of her thought otherwise. Soon, her reddened eyes gave up, and she curled into a ball and slept.
Once the sun rose again, she continued her journey, in search of a place that Orion came across by chance.
She thought it was best to run, use her little magic metre to boost herself, wait for it to refill, and repeat the cycle.
Apparently, she covered a vast gap, but no village was in sight. She motivated herself to keep moving until she finds Anna, no matter how long it takes.
-----------
Note: To clear up misconceptions about Volume 1. I will leave a brief EXPLANATION about it.
We all know Artemis left for Sol to take part in the summer games because she wanted to save humanity and also claim the wealth. With her hatchet and barrel top as a shield, she set out to achieve that dream. She was certain she'd win because of lessons they taught her at the chapels. God raindrop was supposed to intervene in the fight, but that didn't happen.
When the 98th summer game was put on hold, Artemis was passed through the portal after Melissa proclaimed her dead. The elf suggested they take her corpse back to her village. Melissa's message about Artemis being dead was different from what was sent to earth. Before the senates could penalize her for her actions, she fled. Orion was instructed to keep out of sight until a year had passed.
Over at Artemis's village, the girl was in a coma when her father and the Chief died. The chief's son wanted to kill her while she was unconscious, but it was kicked against.
Humans despised contestant 99 because of what she'd done, and how miserable their lives became afterwards. Majority of the blame wasn't only on Artemis. The fact remains that Melissa decided to save her, but no human would want to point fingers at a demigod.
Humans don't want to start a rebellion because they know they don't stand a chance against Sol and Arix. The humans that keep competing know about the prophecy, but they didn't know precisely who was the chosen one.
ABOUT ARTEMIS'S POWERS:-
Melissa passed a specific percentage of her powers to Artemis (the little her body could contain) She wasn't sure if it would be of much help because of the difference in their race, but it was worth a shot.
Because magic wasn't meant for humans, Artemis couldn't be extraordinarily strong. The state of her body was also a burden. Being in a coma made things more difficult because she'd shrunk a bit. With Orion's company and the little training she'd done, her stats improved by a few points.
Her training had to be put on hold due to the bandits that attacked. They were not beastmen; they were spell casters who'd inherited powers.
Ryu's presence was a magnet pulling the enemies towards them, and they picked the scent of the parasite. Beastmen children could not go to earth, therefore it was impossible for a beastchild's power to awaken on earth.
It resulted to investigations and Orion's new location was discovered. Vikckson volunteered to join the search party because he thought their prime mission was to kill him and his companion, but it was to capture them instead.
Time skip to the trials at Sol-
In summary of the trial, The Demigod let Artemis go because he thought of using her for his benefit later. It was easy for Orion to talk his way out of all Vikckson's allegations because no one really cared about that. The main issue was Artemis being a threat to their world.
The Spell caster race would be explained comprehensively along with the beastmen and Monsters in the next volume.
Thanks for reading.
If there's any more questions, feel free to ask.
----------
"Keep moving, Artemis. Keep moving." It was another scorching day, and Artemis was close to collapsing. Her face was drenched, she panted and her steps were slow.
Four months had passed since she'd started her search. Her only company was the parchment, and the lice that had started a colony in her hair.
She was covered in dirt, her dress had a lot of holes, and her hair was tangled in knots. She was close to losing her mind.
Her eyes were fixed forward as she continued dragging her feet until she heard a voice from behind.
"Stop please!"
She looked back to see a young lady that seemed somewhat familiar.
Anna was sure she'd seen the girl from somewhere. She had to chase after her despite being heavily pregnant. She just wanted to make sure she was the one.
The two of them soon recognized each other, and they called their names simultaneously.
"Artemis!?"
"Anna?!"
Artemis faced the opposite direction. She counted fourteen cottages. A stream was in the middle and it all tallied with what Orion drew. She was glad she'd finally found Sirsis, but she was going to tell Anna the dreadful news.