"Are we just going to stand here and die?" Chaos asked, sitting on the ground and watching Artemis dig below the ancient tree she always argued with. Some of his siblings were here watching Artemis beside him. "I get that you have always hated the tree but to dig it up with your hands is crazy. Why not just destroy it as you have always said?"
"Thank you for always having suggestions, Chaos but the tree told me to see what is below it. Today is not a day I would like to waste my time using my fingers to dig through dirt. Don't you think I tried using my powers to do it!" She threw a patch of grass she dug at him.
"Instead of sitting here watching and questioning what I am doing, how about all of you give me a hand. Is that too much to ask for?"
"Yes," Chaos and his siblings replied. None of them felt like digging up dirt from under a tree when humans were marching on their way here to hurt their master.
"Why did I create all of you when you are all so useless?" Artemis sighed, continuing with her task rather than arguing with them.
It had been around an hour since George and Leon took Alexander away to someplace safe. One of her pets informed her the princess and some man convinced the court ministers the king's killer was in this forest.
Almost all of George's army left at the same time he did so there wasn't anyone to put up a fight against the palace guards to stop them from entering the forest. It wasn't like she needed anyone to protect her anyway. Many of the palace guards were going to be killed the moment they step foot into the forest by the lost souls and the forest itself.
"You know Artemis, we had Alexander Mclane here and we could've used him to our advantage to keep you safe. The old Artemis wouldn't have set him free. In fact, with the old Artemis, both Alexander and his father would have been killed. Do you really like that human man? Do you know how fragile and disgusting they are?" Chaos asked Artemis.
Chaos didn't like seeing her become so soft for a human man. Humans were not to be trusted. He found beings like Artemis falling for humans to be disappointing. Humans were nothing more than playthings.
"Chaos," Artemis called for him in a low voice. "You are one of my favorites, so I tolerate a lot of the things you normally say but if you don't shut up, I won't hesitate to punish you. I don't need anyone lecturing me about humans. He is already gone. Do you want me to bring him back and kill him?"
She knew in the past she would have killed Alexander instead of letting him go with his father. However, she couldn't bring herself to kill someone who saw goodness in her. At least one person should remember her as being a good Goddess.
After everyone left her all alone in the forest, she felt a pain in her chest. At first, she thought it was that strange feeling she had towards Alexander but then as it continued to happen again and again, she knew what it really was.
Around this time, she was meant to kill herself and reincarnate or the evil spirit sleeping inside of her would wake up and kill any human insight to get revenge for what happened in the past.
This was why she was in a hurry to dig up what was beneath the ancient tree to see if it could help her instead of just having to die and be reborn again. She was tired of playing that game. Whatever might be under the tree could be her only chance of knowing how to break the cycle.
"Just tell me what is under you!" She yelled out of frustration. She had been digging for a long time but came across nothing. "Why can't I just use my powers to do this? Why must everything feel like a punishment? Why? Can one of you come down here and explain that to me? Haven't I been punished enough?"
"I have been here year after year all alone. So alone that I talked to this damn tree and I had to make up my own children to talk to. The werewolves can hardly visit me because of the fear they might run into humans," she started to vent instead of continuing to dig. Her fingers were sore from all the work and she was growing tired.
Chaos, on the other hand, was surprised to hear her refer to them as her children. She hardly ever referred to them as that. Realizing how upset she was and how whatever was buried here might be her last resort, he started to dig, surprising all his siblings and Artemis.
"As your children, we can't allow you to get hurt and I no longer enjoy living in this forest. None of us have loved living here but it is where our mother has been. It's going to be fun messing with the humans when they get here. I can't wait to see many of them be killed. Hey, do I get a wish?" Chaos asked the tree.
"They say yes but you know you can't wish anything to prevent death," Artemis informed him.
"I wish that Artemis gets to leave this place and go to her own world where she could be free to roam around," Chaos made his wish. One by one, his siblings made the same wish.