ALPHA SIN

ARTEMISIA

Days went by, and I visited the dungeon each time to practice with the witches. Also, initiation night was around the corner and I needed my power, which seemed dormant, to show forth as it would be a rite of passage for me.

Although Mila didn’t say it was necessary, I wanted to, as I didn’t want the others to feel as if I was treated differently.

Again, the prophecy about the moon was becoming clearer; Goddess shall rise to help the chosen one in the quest for the moon and a rift between siblings shall bring the rise of nature.

It was barely six months since I arrived in Merene and everything was in disorder.

As the goddess Artemis had referred to me as the chosen one, I believed I was and needed to carry out the quest entrusted to me.

However, no goddess had risen to help me bring forth my power. Not even Artemis, who wanted me to bring the moon at all costs.

How could I do it without my powers?

I was pregnant, and yet, I feel as if I was not. My tummy was as flat as ever, and the one power surge I felt when the baby was first announced to me was not present any more.

I tried consulting some of the best medics I could. They confirmed it I was with a child, but they couldn’t fathom the reason I felt nothing.

I believed it had something to do with the moon. But, I was carrying a mixed-breed child in me. He or she could be a werewolf or a witch. Or could be both.

I feel since Sin was a werewolf and affected by the moon, his offspring, though not born yet, would be if he or she had a gene of his.

That was the only explanation I had come up with.

“You are doing fine.” Mila grinned, and her hand was on my shoulder.

I nodded and let out a deep breath before shutting my eyes.

Nothing had happened since I began the meditation. I was told powers could come forth through that, and I wish mine could happen the same way as well.

My brows creased, and my body stilled as I sensed another presence beside me.

It wasn’t Mila, she couldn’t give a cold vibe like that.

My eyes snapped open, and they flicker around the cosy room.

“What is going on?” I mumbled, standing.

It seemed I was in a kind of trance; I wasn’t in my body, that was still in the sitting position.

I didn’t know where I was going, but I felt something was calling me. Trying to reach out to me.Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

I followed my instinct to where it was leading me, and I stopped at an opening.

There were three doors before me, and I frowned.

“Why am I here? Am I to choose where to go?”

I asked myself as the symbol I noticed on the door glowed.

I didn’t know a lot about riddles. Most times, in openings like this, in books I read, the doorkeepers would ask riddles before an entrance. But gazing at the symbols again, I realized they were the zodiac signs of the scale, water bearer, and a crescent moon.

As I continued to gaze at the door, I stepped towards the one that had the scale sign on it. Since it was my sign as well, and I didn’t think I walked to it on my own. It was as if something propelled me towards it.

As if an external force compelled me.

Sighing, I nudged the door, and it went ajar. I winced, shielding my eyes from the bright light which illuminated the room, and I blinked several times before they got accustomed to my environment.

“Welcome, chosen one.”

A soft voice murmured, and a gentle wind glided around the room. It rattled the white curtains that were used as a partition in the middle of the room before ruffling my hair around my face.

I nudged the hair out of my face and my eyes went towards the ceiling as the light flickered.

“What is going on? Why am I here?” The question was loud and clear.

But I was aware I was talking to myself since I was the only one in the room.

“You chose the right room.” The voice said yet again, followed by a tap on my shoulder.

I shrugged, assuming it was from the wind still drifting around the room.

But turned again as I felt it.

I staggered backwards as my eyes came into contact with a woman.

She was deathly pale. Her enormous eyes were black, almost like Sin’s eyes, if not darker. They weren’t blinking, but I felt they could see inside me.

Her shoulder-length hair was as dark as night, and a greenish aura which I couldn’t fathom how I was able to see swirled around her.

Her nose was sharp and straight. She had thin lips which stretched out in a wide smile, showing off her pearly white teeth.

The woman gripped a long staff, which I realized was a torch, and I yelled as I gazed downward.

A large she-dog which snarled was by her right, and to her left stood a polecat!

“W-who are you?!” I gasped out, stepping back as I sensed the animals with her would pounce on me at any time.

“I mean no harm, child.” Her smile was in place and her voice was shrill.

I winced, covering my ears. I chanced a glance up at her and almost lost it.

Earlier, I was sure I had seen her dark shoulder-length hair.

But I was wrong, or maybe it was the trance I was still in that made me feel as though I was.

In place of her dark hair were a snake, a dog and a cow.

How the f**k would someone have such on the head?!

As I stared at her again in fright, she was her normal self, and she smiled as if nothing happened.

“The answer to the question in your mind is one of my favourite forms to assume whenever I desire to put frights in mortals’ minds. And yes, I am a goddess.”

Her dark eyes twinkled, and I shook my head.

First, it was goddess Artemis appearing to me as if nothing was wrong and now, a goddess whom I didn’t even know! I wonder if all the goddesses and maybe gods would do the same before my initiation, as it seemed they were taking turns each.

“Although you wouldn’t be the first I’d appear to, I think you’d be my favourite.” The goddess murmured, tapping her chin.

My eyes wandered to her hands, and I noticed some inklings in them. Or more like the symbols around the dungeon were on her hands. The more I gazed at them, the more it dawned on me, I wasn’t in front of just any goddess, but the goddess Trivia, also known as Hecate!

The goddess of witchcraft, crossroads, entranceways, night, light, magic, and necromancy! Perhaps there were other things she was the goddess of, but that was the only thing that could come to my mind as I stared at her in awe.

Also, out of the many questions swirling in my mind, the only one that kept on recurring which was, what does she want from me?

And the more I thought about it, the more I felt something awful was about to happen.