"Wait, wait, wait! Ah!" Hayden screamed when his body became on fire. The screams from behind him indicated that the same thing was happening to his men. "Please save me."
"Why should I?" Artemis released the men so that she could watch them roll around to try to end the fire. The more she was around humans the more she found them to be so weak. "It makes no use rolling around. Accept the fire that so desperately wants to cling to you.
Hayden's skin had burned away and nothing he did made the fire decrease. Down on his knees and in pain, he looked up to Alexander to help him this one last time. "Please save me. Save me this one last time Alexander. I won't do bad again."
"Alexander, take one step forward to help him and I'll kill you too. Let him pay for the things he's done. He's not going to change if you give him a third, fourth, or fifth chance. The underworld will be the perfect place to make them wish they changed the life they had." Artemis bent over to get a better look at Hayden before the last remains of his life could leave his body. "Please tell the devil Artemis says hello when you get down there."
"Fuck…you," Hayden cursed right before his body collapsed to the ground.
Alexander was surprised that Artemis had killed all of the men by burning them alive. Like Hayden, he was also told Gods could not hurt humans and from the old records in the palace, the kings and their men had no entry of a God ever attacking them. What made Artemis different from the others? "You can really kill humans."
"I keep telling you that but does anyone ever believe me, no. Now you see it with your own eyes. So be careful with your words or I'll send you there right after them. What's with that look on your face? Concerned that I'll go around killing humans now? Were you trusting me because I hadn't hurt anyone yet? You truly believe I couldn't hurt your king, didn't you?" Artemis chuckled, going to Hayden's body to touch it and send his ashes down to the underworld with him.
She was serious when she said she wasn't going to allow someone like him to reincarnate. His next few lives would have been pitiful because of the many bad things he did in this life. 'If I send Alexander down to the underworld, his time there might not be too long. His good might outweigh the bad," she thought.
"How is it possible that you can kill humans? What happened to the law that you couldn't? Can the other Gods still alive also hurt humans?" This was a problem Alexander wasn't expecting because the Gods that were alive could start taking revenge on innocent people for the things done in the past and present.
"How should I know? I live in the forest all alone. I don't reach out to the others to know how their life is going and they don't come to visit me. Life is so much easier for us when we stay far away from each other. One of them might try to get the guards off their tail and lead them to me. We wasted so much of my precious time with these imbeciles," she said when she sent that last soul to the underworld. "I hope he was thankful enough to send my message to the devil."
"Isn't it weird for a God and the devil to be friends?"
"Why? He's the God of the underworld. Not many people like him because of what his job entails but we have always gotten along fine. You can't expect the devil to be nice considering where he lives. Let's continue on our journey. I don't have too long till I have to return." Artemis had a goal for leaving the forest and unfortunately, the thieves had wasted more than enough of her time.
"I see. What an interesting friend you have. You always talk about me having power coming in from all around me but you are no different. Humans wouldn't be a match for a goddess who can kill them and the devil by your side. Why didn't you work with him to get your revenge on the world?" Alexander asked. From his point of view, she had all the resources needed to make humans suffer. Why was she taking a long way?
"There's more I want to do than just taking revenge on humans. I have to find out why I can't return home, why I am connected to the forest, and more. As powerful as I am and the devil is, we both can't help me get the answers to those things. I have to look at the past for the answers the present does not have. And it's no fun if I just kill all humans. I enjoy messing with the king more than just killing him right away." That was why she sent Chaos to the palace. He was the best person to do the job.
"I wonder when they'll announce that the king has lost his mind. Who do you think will replace him? If they plan to meddle with what goes on in the forest I'll have to kill them too," Artemis tapped her chin, recalling the family members with potential sons to become king. There were at least three boys who could become king with Darius gone.
"Watch it," Alexander pulled Artemis to his side when she wasn't looking where she was going and almost fell into a hole in the road.
"No touching," Artemis scolded him and stepped away from his hold.
"No thank you for helping you? You're welcome Alexander," he patted himself instead of her and continued to walk ahead in the direction she had been going.
Artemis stayed behind for a moment to watch him. She placed her hand on her chest when for once in her life, she had an unfamiliar feeling there.