I walked through until I saw a gate. Beyond it, there were many building and lights on the ceiling of the underground kingdom. I pushed the iron gate and walked through the city. It smelt bad and there were homeless people every corner. In the distance there was a big stone castle which nearly touched the top of the cave. On each tower, there was an animals head, a dove, a stag, a deer, a dog and above them all, a red boar. Suddenly, I was hit over the head with something and blacked out.
I awoke on a long red carpet. "You've finally woken up" said a familiar voice. I looked up and saw Artemi. "I need you to do something for me" she said from her golden throne five times her size. I tried to stand up to no avail. I realised I was tied up and stuck. "Fine then, what do you want me to do?".
"The calydonian boar, I need you to kill it" she said, "Also, my name is Artemis, not Artemi". I looked at her confused, "Ok...anyways, where's the boar if you want me to kill it and can you untie me?". "No, the calydonian boar is at Thebes, what you call the capital, I sent it to attack someone but now it's caused harm to some of the people I care for" she said standing up. She then snapped her fingers and a tall man in shiny black armour picked me up and took me into another room.
Around, there was armour which were mostly too big for me. He carried me saying, "Tell me to stop when you see one you want and also, do you need a weapon?". I didn't say anything as he walked around. "I don't want any of these, they're too big" I said. He went into another room which had smaller armour. "Do you fancy these?" he asked walking around. They were still a bit oversized but some actually looked decent. "I want this" I said. It was a light armour with fur underneath which was good for me because I was not very good with cold and I wasn't strong enough to wear heavy armour. "Ok, would you like a weapon?" he asked picking up the armour with his other arm.
"No, I have my knife, now can you untie me, it's getting uncomfortable being in this position" I said wiggling around. "Wait, I'll untie you once we reach over ground" he said walking out of the room.
We left the underground city and reached the top. "Ok, now go" he said untying me. I pretended to go but went to Sparta after he left. I styled my overgrown hair so that it would cover my face in case they recognized me. I walked in and found the house. I knocked on the door and they opened. "Who are you?" asked Pearl. I lifted my hair and she pulled me in. "How did you make it?" she asked sitting down on the bed. "I fell into some cave which led to an underground city and there I met Artemi wait no, Artemis, now she told me to hunt the calydonian boar" I said. I looked around for Han. "Where's Han?" I said standing up.
"He's somewhere in the forest looking for you" she said standing up. I covered my face again and opened the door. "Let's go find him tomorrow, it's nearly night" I said looking around for soldiers.
I didn't sleep and instead just looked at the moon. Gods were real after all and I couldn't reach Artemi in time. I said remembering the day I saw them flying over me. Morning came and we set out. In five hours, we'd reached the forest. It began to rain heavily and we went through the big trees. In an open patch, there he was curled up in a ball, crying. I stepped through the plants and he turned around. "Taragmenos, y-you survived" he said standing up.
"Yea, of course I would, soldiers can't do anything against me" I said lifting him up. He looked at me confused, "Why are you wearing armour?".
"Long story short, I have to kill the calydonian boar because it's rampaging through Thebes, I came back to find you so we don't lose each other" I said.
The day went by and we reached an unknown place. The docks I'd been to before were only arrival so we had to find one which could take us somewhere else, in this case being Thebes. It was a forest but the trees were a bit thinner and it had way less plants than the other one. We made a campfire and used the food we had left. I had some one me because they'd given me another bag but we had to be careful with it because the docks could be extremely far.
The second day came and we set out. We went up on a volcano it was extinct and we used it to see the surroundings. The forest stretched out a bit further and then there was mostly grass which would make it easier because I didn't enjoy not seeing the sky. After an hour, we reached the grasslands. Beyond this was a slightly rockier area which meant that there was probably a beach nearby. This journey was by far the smoothest one I'd ever had and we hadn't encountered any monsters. The day went by and we reached the rocky area and I could see a beach.
The next day came and we set out again. In five hour, we'd reached the beach. After walking a bit more, we'd found it. "We have to sneak on since we don't have tickets" I said. I looked to my side and saw to other people. They looked at me then back down at their map. They had big weapons on their back which meant they were fighters. I asked "Are you going to Thebes?".