Maia thought of a perfect description that she could compare to how Artemis looks right now. She stared at her hands and noticed that her blood drenched nails had become longer.
Maia pondered and imagined the thought of her mother mixing her genes with that of a cheetah or panther. It wouldn't be impossible afterall, all of their experiments were a combination of either a chemical compound, another human, a plant and in most cases, an animal.
"Come now darling, you should atleast greet your mom, should you not?"
Artemis urged Maia but the lass just stood her ground while trying to analyze her mother's face.
Her mother's face which had a calming effect on her eversince she was a child with a sweet smile and soothing voice now seemed like a face that belonged to a murderer. A psychopath, she added.
"Maia"
The soothing tone of voice that Maia remembered was nothing like how Artemis' voice is now. It was full of malice, excitement and danger. Her call for Maia's name sounded as if she wanted to devour her daughter.
"Maki and I won't be going with you. We're staying here"
"Has mother poisoned your thoughts already? What did she tell you huh? Let me tell you darling everything are lies"
Maia's fist clenched, she couldn't believe that her own mother would try to deceive her as well.
"Grandmother told me everything that you didn't"
Maia stared at her mother straight in her eyes. Artemis' bloodshot eyes expressing the pain of being betrayed wasn't enough to gather Maia's sympathy anymore.
"How dare you. You dare go against the wishes of your mother"
Maia's eyes widened when she saw how her mother's hair grew longer as is her stature. All of her hair turns to the color of a raven. Her nails were growing longer and her blood-drenched white skin was now turning into a greenish color.
As Artemis stared at Maia, the lass could see that the crimson red eyes had turned into a deeper shade of burgundy red.
"You naughty MISBEHAVING CHILD!!"
As Artemis roared, the ground she was standing in turned into ice. At that moment, Maia had a thought. Now, she knew that this was more than anything she could have deciphered.
For her mother didn't mix her genes with an animal, a flower or a chemical compound. No, her mother had mixed herself with a real monster.
"Qallupilluit, you turned yourself into one of them"
Sol cried as she shouted at Artemis who she was sure now had lost all control and rationale she ever had.
"Isn't it amazing? They were creatures with great powers and yet history hid them as mythological ones. But, I… saw their potential. Just as I saw yours Maia"
Her gaze turned to Maia who was too stunned to speak. She had seen mutations and creatures that no one could imagine but, seeing her own mother turn into one, made her freeze in her place.
"I saw yours, Maki's and every one of my children. I brought out that potential of yours so you could do my bidding. So you could make me proud. BUT YOU… YOU BETRAYED ME"
Artemis attacked, as she roared her anger she leapt to where Maia was standing. Maia who had reacted late used her arm to protect her from Artemis' attack. But the blow that came from Artemis' nails dealt quite the damage to Maia's left arm as it tore apart.
Maia screamed but Artemis continued her attack. She kicked Maia by her left side, making the younger woman fly to the other side where her body hit a large stone rubble.
"I created you and yet what I receive is this kind of payment? NO!!"
Artemis rushed to Maia again but before she could land another kick, Maia rolled on her side and landed a kick at Artemis' feet making the older woman stumble.
She took this chance to stand up and regain her balance but the pain of having her left arm tear up was still overwhelming her senses.
"You should be grateful, you foolish child. I gave you the power you need and yet you scorn me"
Maia disbelievingly stared at her mother before she sent a glare her way.
"Grateful? grateful for what? for taking away the truth from us? for tearing my arm? or for making me go inside the tournament? Which part of my life should I be grateful to you?"
"YOU INSOLENT LITTLE BRAT!"
As Artemis rushed to attack once more, Maia had the chance to dodge it. She doesn't know if she could counter Artemis' slashes but she knew that she couldn't afford to lose another arm.
Artemis who kept on slashing at Maia was now raging spouting every single thing she felt.
"Everything I did was for my children to be powerful, so you could rule this shunned world."
Maia was growing weary, all her dodging was taking a toll on her. Not to mention that she didn't have enough time to stop the bleeding from her arm. If this goes on, she would die from blood loss rather than being killed by her mother, she thought.
"But you… just like your brothers and sisters, you betray me, your own mother."
One wrong step from Maia had cost her her right eye as Artemis slash it right off of her face. Maia wailed in pain, she knew that her eye would regenerate but the pain still was enough to overwhelm her.
Artemis took this as a chance and grabbed Maia by her neck.
"I won't lose another soldier Maia. I'm sure you wouldn't die after all there is still another soul inside of you."
This took Maia by surprise.
"Wha– what do you mean!"
"Ohh didn't you know?"
Artemis laughed menacingly as she grip Maia by her neck tighter. Her long fingernails digging through her skin and her flesh. Maia screamed louder.
"Darling, you didn't know that you had a twin sister didn't you. I guess mother didn't told you everything after all."
"Lies"
"Silence child, if you want to know the truth then I will tell you. You had a twin sister who died at birth. I couldn't let my own child die so I infused the two of you. So that you will live both of your lives, afterall you were twins"
Maia stared at her mother with her one good eye. She knew then that the one her mother was looking for wasn't her. It was the twin sister she was talking about. The emotionless, brutal and powerful being residing into her subconsciousness. Only now was she aware that that being was her twin sister and that her soul could have probably manifested into her.
Maia's anger for her mother grew larger. She made every single one of her children a monster that couldn't turn back into normal.
"Now, I have no need for an insolent daughter like you. Die and give up this body to my daughter. To my true daughter,
Machai"
As Artemis' grip grew tighter. Maia's consciousness starts to fade away and she feels insensate to all of the pain. Before she closed her eyes there was one last thing she saw.
Her grandmother Sol, with a gun directed towards Artemis. Maia closed her eyes as she heard the shot being made. But before she lost herself completely, she muttered a silent prayer, a silent call for her sister. To the twin sister she never knew she had.
"Machai, help me"
Whether or not Machai heard her was another different story fitted to be told for another time.