"I want to test something out. Stand up!" Artemis ordered Alexander so that she might test out how the bracelet worked.
Alexander felt a jab of pain in his arm when she asked him to stand so he stood up from the ground.
"Good. Now, refuse what I ask you to do next. Sit down." She wanted to see what happens when he refuses her orders.
Alexander remained still instead of sitting and at first, he felt the jab of pain come back in his arm but then the pain went straight to his heart. He grabbed his chest when it started to become overwhelming and had to sit down immediately. As soon as he obeyed Artem's order, the pain went away. "Can you please not test it out anymore?" He took deep breaths trying to get over the pain he just felt. It was like someone pierced a sword through his chest.
Artemis stood up off the log and circled around Alexander on the ground. "We don't have to test it anymore since it's clearly working. Keep in mind that if I ever send you out of this forest to do something, the bracelet was made to control and punish a God. The pain will increase each time you disobey me and it will happen faster if you haven't noticed already. With you being human the next one or two times you disobey me will kill you."
"Good to know," Alexander replied, falling back to the ground to look up at the sky. He started to laugh the more his current situation dawned on him. It was completely different from the day he envisioned and he was now a servant for the person Darius wanted most in the world.
"Have you finally lost your mind? It's about time," Artemis commented and moved away from him before it rubbed off on her. Finally, he was acting like he was kidnapped and his life was in her hands. Or maybe he was just naturally crazy like she suspected. He did tell her his mother dropped him on the head.
Alexander ignored her words as he remembered a bit of information someone had given him that made sense with everything happening recently. Someone had told him the king was looking high and low for another one of the fallen weapons even though the sword was more than enough. Alexander then remembered Darius's plan to enter this forest because he figured something was in here.
Artemis had one of the weapons Darius wanted the entire time and this bracelet was used to control Gods as she said. He always wondered how Darius planned to get the God on his side to use it but Darius's plan was always to force Artemis to follow him.
Alexander didn't agree with the plan Darius had even more now because Artemis looked one step ahead of them. He told Darius to ignore what lived here but he didn't and now Artemis was planning something. He wasn't going to allow Darius to control Artemis because then he'll truly be a tyrant king. A king with a God as a weapon was not a good thing.
He looked at Artemis staring out at the water and figured between her and Darius, she was the best out of the two. "We don't have to be enemies. I can help you," he decided right on the spot. Alexander wasn't going to allow her to bring danger to the people in the kingdom but he was going to work with her to help the world find some sort of balance.
If her world and his world were always at war, no one would survive the outcome. He agreed that humans had to come to terms with them not being the only ones in this world. "I'll help if you can guarantee these other creatures won't hurt innocent humans."
Artemis covered her mouth and started to laugh since he was under the impression she needed his help. She'll succeed without him but it was interesting to hear he was going against the king's orders. The captain at the festival called him the king's dog so was this the case of the dog turning around to bite the owner? "Have you already forgotten the bracelet I placed on your hand? You have no choice but to help me or you'll die."
"Yes, but having my word I am willing to help is even better right? I have no plans to tell you to take this bracelet off because I understand your reasons for not trusting a word I say. You want peace for your kind and I want the same for mine. Even though the king is an old friend of mine, he is not stable enough to rule this kingdom."
"Hmm. I've been admiring your honesty when it comes to things like this. They would be furious to hear you admit that to someone like me. Let me tell you a secret Alexander. Your king's unstable behavior has been done by me."
"You've spoken to the king before?" Alexander didn't understand how she was responsible for how Darius had changed.
"Not me but one of my pets. Your king has a prisoner he has never told you about. The king believes he has captured a God but little did he know, I personally sent Chaos there. My pet has been whispering things in his ears to make him lose his mind."
Back in the Harlow palace, Darius was away from his room to have a talk with the ministers about his marriage candidates. With him away, the person in the shadows used this time to remove the shackles the king had placed on him.
"Humans are so foolish to think those chains will stop me." Chaos, one of Artemis's pets, smirked, leaving the darkness to look around Darius's room. He opened the map the king left on a table and laughed at the circle around the forest Artemis lived in.
Chaos was the first one of Artemis's pets to gain his own personality and changed into something different. He enjoyed getting into the head of others and watching them self-destruct. The palace was a playing ground with many people who were slowly turning against each other thanks to him. The king believed Chaos was his prisoner but it was the other way around.