The Obsidian Void

Three: A Hesitant Alliance

After a surprisingly stressful hour of deciding what she was taking with her, Artemis made her way down the main staircase, approaching the castle entrance. There waiting for her was Monty (As expected, there was no way he wouldn't be there to see her off), Quinn (Who was twirling around uncontrollably, greatly risking knocking over at least one delicate ornament), and, somewhat to Artemis' surprise, Quinn's father, sat in his chair and doing his best to stop his son from breaking something.

"There she is!" Beamed Monty, "We were starting to worry you were having second thoughts, Artie."

She laughed, arriving at the bottom of the staircase and immediately being crashed into by an overexcited Quinn, catching him before he collapsed onto the floor.

"I'd prefer it if you remained in one piece please." She said, "Especially since we haven't gone anywhere yet..."

"I'm surprised he's gotten this far and remained in one piece." Quinn's father laughed, rolling towards them, "I thought he'd have broken most of his bones before he was ten, what with all the shenanigans you two got up to back in the day."

Artemis set Quinn upright and joined Monty by the door.

"You say that as if they're not about to get up to those same shenanigans, just on a bigger scale."

"So I heard!"

"This is hardly the same." Artemis assured them, "This is a very serious mission. Far more so than some children's game."

The adults gave each other a knowing look as Quinn ran back over to Artemis to wrap her in a hug.

"Well anyway," Quinn's father smiled, "I'm very proud of the both of you."

"As am I." Agreed Monty. "And I'm sure your mothers, and father, would be as well."

He waited patiently for Quinn to release Artemis from his grip before interjecting with a hug of his own, trying to hide his teary eyes from her line of sight.

"Keep yourself safe, okay?"

She nodded, waiting a long time before pulling away.

"Well," She began, once Quinn had finished his final hug, "We ought to get going as soon as possible. It'd be wise for us to make as much progress as we can before sundown."

Monty agreed, and, wiping a fast-falling tear from his eye, waved his final goodbyes to the pair. Artemis turned to wave back to him, while Quinn was walking backwards in an effort to wave and shout goodbyes at his dad for as long as possible before the two lost sight of one another.

The two of them were so focused, in fact, that neither of them noticed an unknown shadowy figure watching from just beyond their field of vision

***

"Where are we starting then?" Artemis asked once they were far beyond the castle gates. Quinn pulled their book from his bag, as if he had been anticipating her question.

"So, my thought process here was-"

"Just show me the page, Quinn."

Quinn fell silent and flipped through the pages of the book, landing on the one he was looking for and immediately passing it over to her. Artemis scanned her eyes along the lines, getting the general idea of what it said.

The page in question was a loose page of a diary- one that the two had found caught on a bush while playing in the woods- that they believed to have been written by the Runaway Witch herself, sometime before she cast the spell.

It explained how she had once again been found by a mysterious "they", and was on the run, trying to find somewhere safe and secret that she could settle down in in order to continue her research. She decided to look for a nearby abandoned dragon's cave, hoping it would provide decent shelter, along with the chance of some equally abandoned gold and treasure. The only further details were that she was planning to move north.