Unaware of Alexander's fight with Thomas, Artemis continued to run to the ancient tree to see if it would still be alright. Since the rock was on fire the tree started to burn when the flames spread.
Artemis sent the lake water to get rid of the flames before they could spread even more. "I was supposed to be the one to burn you down. How dare you allow someone to do it," she scolded the tree.
She became angrier after there was no response from the tree as she did before. As Artemis approached the hole where the tree had been knocked out, her eyes widened when she looked in.
"What on earth…" she trailed off as she looked down in the hole.
To her surprise, another version of herself was sleeping in the hole surrounded by chains. The clothes were outdated and the chains must have been done by a strong being to keep her down there.
There couldn't be two Artemis so the person sleeping below had to be fake unless…
"This is my real prison," Artemis muttered, realizing the forest had nothing to do with her punishment all along. The reason she was meant to return was a part of her was buried here.
Out of the blue, a chain appeared before Artemis's eyes running from the sleeping body all the way up to her chest. It had to be what caused her to have chest pains whenever she left the forest.
"To think such a thing was under here this entire time and I had no clue. You never once made an effort to tell me!" She yelled smacking on the roots of the tree. If only she had burned down the tree when she wanted to in the past she would have discovered the thing keeping connected to the forest.
Artemis couldn't help but laugh at her situation. Her way of escaping was right under her nose the entire time. Instead of allowing the tree to be saved, Artemis touched one of its roots until a sizzling noise was heard coming from below her finger.
She was doing what she always should have done, which was burning down the tree.
"They were using me to fuel you all along," she said, going down in the hole to remove the chains from all around her.
Artemis didn't like the idea of her having to grant wishes for humans, the same creatures who were always afraid and wanted to kill her. That was why she stopped performing the duty many years ago. The ancient tree had taken on the task of doing that job except it still needed Artemis's permission to bless the wish.
"This tree was surviving off of my imprisonment. Are you kidding me? You had me chained up to continuously listen to the wishes of humans I despise," Artemis's anger grew the more she realized what they had done. She used this anger to grab hold of the chains and try to break them.
Even though breaking the chains meant a curse she kept sealed away might be released, Artemis was more interested in freeing herself from her prison. Without her noticing, her eyes started to turn red as she used all her strength and power to break the chains.
"I'm tired of being locked up here! Release me now!" She exclaimed tugging on the chain until her black hair had changed to white and the chain snapped. Artemis huffed looking down at the broken chain in her hands. It drained most of her power to be able to break the chain placed there by her elders. "Am I free?"
Slowly, the once sleeping Artemis sat up to face Artemis. Her eyes opened revealing red pupils.
"Hello?" Artemis waved her hand in front of its face.
"About time we looked under here. I was tired of sleeping," the other Artemis said in a monotone voice. "Those fools don't know the hatred has already left my heart."
'This must be the evil spirit. I thought it was locked away inside of me,' Artemis thought to herself.
"You-no, we longer wish to harm humans. Not unless they mess with us at least," said Artemis.
"It would be nice to toy with them but we have thought about humans for too long. Had this been a hundred years back I would be angry but the human man I was angry with has already died. What's the point in continuing to be angry? I had a long slumber and enough time to think. We should just let go of the past. Don't allow the hatred to turn you into something you are not," she meant Artemis's appearance which resembled that of a demon.
"I did not expect an evil spirit to be telling me to let go of the past," Artemis said. Her white hair and red eyes started to turn back to normal.
"That the human and get out of here. We're free," the evil spirit said before vanishing.
Artemis felt a bit tighter now that the spirit disappeared. "I'm free," she whispered in disbelief. Since she was free, there was no point defending the forest when she could just leave with Alexander and have the sirens leave too.
Artemis climbed out of the hole wanting to share the news with Alexander. Her body was still weak but she pushed herself to get out quickly so that she could tell him.
"Alexander!" She yelled when she made it out of the hole. Artemis looked back at where she left Alexander and it was only now she noticed he had been fighting Thomas without a sword. "Alexander!" She exclaimed as she watched Thomas pierce Alexander with his sword.