Artemis had depleted the extent in which she could handle the Boar and his bullshit. She had found a reason to see why he had grown chummy with the Chimera that stood in the East, as she found out the man had turned over a cursed stone. The man with a smooshed face and no pants or trousers had purposely began to scratch along the underbelly of the stone, and awakened a beast Artemis would name: the Charybdis. It had washed over the world like a plague and left all those old and in predisposition to be weak at its hand until death called them to Hades. Artemis looked around the chaos and began to weep, realizing that her dreams had stirred up the poisons and pains that now rattled at each door.

She spent her whole life desperately leaping from one person’s dreams to the next, and sat heavily upon their chest in her laziness. Artemis had only wanted to warn the innocent of the heaping waves of death that swelled from beneath their dreams and desires. It seemed plenty of people were just as her, wishing for too much and too cynical to believe in the future. She wondered why they hadn’t heeded her warnings, and saw the desperation in their eyes. The citizens of the world now covered their faces just as she once had, except with the attempt to protect themselves from bacteria and viruses as opposed to her need to shield her face from Hera. Artemis wondered why the citizens even listened to the Boar, and saw their contempt in minimum payments for their suffering. The beast Charybdis had now ripped citizens from the streets, and left the corpses unlabelled and unclaimed for all the world to witness.

Artemis avoided sleep in her exhaustion of dreams of piled bodies, the stench of death forcing her shake in fear and weep in empathy. She had seen too much death in her lifetime, and felt monolithic to the concept. It had only been until recently that she felt the smell of putrid brimstone and sweat overpower her sense of smell. Artemis knew that the citizens were fully unprepared for the fourteen day sweeps that the Charybdis stole souls at an epidemic rate, and she began to worry that Hades would soon overflow in the madness it caused. The citizens were unaware that the balance of their world depended on taming the beast, and began to tremble in the fears of knowing that the world couldn’t fathom all that she had seen and known. You see...Artemis was an orphan, and the world had raped and beaten her with the intentions of pushing her to an early death. She had known the world was an awful place, and filled with awful people: choosing to smile in spite of their nonsense and the oddities of their unique experience. Artemis had once wished harm upon all those that shook their head at her accomplishments, and the task she had on hand: it had given her strength in believing that justice was unconvinced by her opinions, but only by the actions of those around her. She had never wanted thousands to fall ill at the foot of the Boar and his thugs, but only wished to maime or injure those that had ridiculed her openly. She wondered why they still turned their hand over and waved her back into her adolescent rage with their furry knuckles, and began to calculate her madness to a tapestry for the undeserving world to witness.

Artemis watched the beast swiftly move from house to house, and she began to pray to the Gods that long abandoned them. Asking for shelter over the innocent babies that wore petite socks, and directing the citizens to cast a red ribbon over their doors as to protect them from a colorblind monster that grew stronger by the minute. Artemis laughed as the Boar declared himself to be of omnipotent power, and continued to yell over professionals in the medical field. The Boar had even gone as far as to assign financial compensation to each tax-paying citizen: despite the fact he didn’t pay his own taxes. He had twisted his deed to allow the rich a larger sum of gratuity than most citizens would ever see in their lives. The Boar was afraid of helping others unless it secured his position as tyrant, and so the wealthy spat upon the citizens for fun as they inherited mass sums that did little to their overflowing wealth. He had intended to buy their support, and claim himself a political Olympian. The Boar was nicknamed Nero, for his desperate need to “race” his chariot, and declare himself the winner even after it toppled over and was disqualified. The citizens had applauded his valiant effort and bent over to expose their rears in the hopes of anal penetration from the emperor, as they seemed to fall in line with the congress and senate that backed his actions with inaction. The citizens clamored to ground to pick up their promised coins in tizzy, but forgot that Artemis had been observing them patiently as she moved her head from side to side. The frenzy of greed had been a spectacle to witness.

Artemis wondered why more citizens didn’t follow her crass line of thinking, and admired them as they slowly turned to her for opinions and answers. The Boar had gone back on his promise to give each citizen a stipend, as he wished to etch his name upon each piece of silver and gold to promote his raunchy particular brand. He had become the biggest “Indian giver” of all, and Artemis smirked at his folly. Dead-eyed savages were all the same to her, and so she continued to watch the citizens closer in curiosity as to how the monster Charybdis had snuck-up on them all without warning. The citizens grew restless in their poverty, and the landlords began to evict people in masses. It led to the streets being flooded with families and innocent hard-working citizens: the landlords shrugged their shoulders in content. For they had only been following orders of shadowy figures, yes men that prided themselves on passive aggressiveness. These landlords deserved the painful death brought on by the Charybdis, and it saddened Artemis to understand the necessity for his existence. Artemis wasn’t afraid of the beast, and so she remixed her daily schedule to walk around its massive tail. She sprinted on empty fields to ward off her hunchback, and quarantined herself as much as possible. Artemis knew the beast would have to work actively hard if it wished to chase her down by the time she reached her home door.

Artemis wondered why citizens gawked at their golden apples, and felt herself slowly appreciative that the world had been distracted for a moment in time. It gave her time to catch up on her education, and weave her story for fun. She began to bake sweets and advanced recipes for the sake of enjoyment, and admired how much DJ Loverboy enjoyed her company. Artemis would ask if he ever grew weary of her presence, and began to sigh whenever he seemed annoyed by her need to question his motives. They were a calm and respectable pair together, but Artemis knew that his love was masked by restrictions to move aboot in the world and the lack of options he had in the situation. She felt interchangeable to his ex’s and wondered why he seemed so excited by the women he had yet courted, until she finally tricked him by showing him a young Ruby. Artemis returned to missing Orion without guilt, and fell into a character of pleasantness that came easily to her. She missed the rain and the Kind-Hearted Hunters that occasionally checked on her well being. Artemis began to find reasons to sleep away from their bed, as she found it easier to fall asleep in an eagerness that Orion may by standing outside, waiting to hug her on the other side of the door.

Artemis had said too much to validate her madness with any sort of reasoning, and so she asked her poet friend Joji to assist her calming her anticipation with his words. She had swayed tirelessly asking for nothing from the world, and swung her hips with pride as she pleaded that they Gimme Love in her selfishness. The world had fallen victim to a monster that only had a visible face and tail, and yet she was the one responsible to slay a beast with no heart. Desdemona had sent word that she had finally cut ties with Hera, and Artemis felt relief in knowing the child abuser would have to find another child to harm to hone in her insanity. Artemis felt pride in knowing Desdemona had done so in a sober mind frame and on her own accord, as she could no longer fight battles on behalf of other people. She had been crippled by her own martyrdom, and so Desdemona was left charging into battle head first on her own. It had been the same fearless growling and battle-cry Artemis had once taught Roro: stomping their feet threateningly before bowing their head down to charge full speed into the unknown. Artemis had silently given Desdemona knowledge, and the lack of judgement as a gift. She had never judged her for not knowing what to do in reaction to her illness of seizures, and prepared her on how to step into action in liue of the next one. Artemis hadn’t called her names or demeaned her, but informed her of their genetic disposition for degenerative disc disease for whenever she chose to bring a baby Lyon into the world. Artemis had finally mastered her skills in kindness directing them at her friends and family, and not only by those that bowed at her feet for her accomplishments building sky-boats. She had cast her arms wide open for hugs aimed at those that didn’t expect it, and asked that they’d help carry her to a finish line that she had once sprinted towards. Artemis had wanted to be the first doctor in their family, and wept in embarrassment that Orion didn’t want to be a part of her life. Artemis had learned to value all those that had cared enough to put up with her swinging moods and mania-filled laughter, and the outcome had been something indescribable to witness.

Next Chapter: [ XLII ] Artemis and the Lyre of Orion