The Dracomancer

CHAPTER TWO: ARTEMIS

She saw that he was young and handsome, as far as humans went. He seemed to be in his mid- to late-adolescent years, possibly with a girlfriend. He was about 5’11”, slim with short, dirty-blonde hair and the dreamy type of face that girls would gaze upon for hours, wanting nothing more than to be that girlfriend. Even she found him attractive.
“Thank you,” he said, regaining his wits and breaking the awkward silence.
“For what?” He heard a female voice say.
“Saving my life,” he replied, hoping she realized what it meant to him.
“You saved mine first.” The statement had confused him. She thought that he had meant to open the rift, but it seemed as though he did it unconsciously.
“What are you talking about?” He asked.
“Dragons used to be the rulers of my world, but our queen was slain by demons and now they’re hunting the rest of us down. You opened a rift between our worlds at a time when I was being chased by one.”
“I didn’t open any rifts! Even if a rift was opened, what makes you think I did it?” At least, he didn’t think so.
“You did not run from me. In my world, there is an ancient prophecy that goes, “There will be a dark time when dragons will be hunted by creatures of the shadows, but in this world’s hour of greatest need, a mortal champion from another world will rise to defeat these creatures and help the dragons reclaim their rightful place in the world. This champion shall not be afraid of dragons, though most in his world fear their kind. He is the Dragon Wizard.” You stood out like a beacon to me.” She realized that he wasn’t the type who grasped subtlety very easily.
“So you think I’m some sort of hero? I’m sorry, but I’m a pacifist. You want someone to solve your problems? Again, I’m sorry, but I think you have the wrong person. I have enough of my own problems to deal with.” He started to walk away, but soon felt a gentle hand touch his shoulder. “I said I don’t want to take part in your war! What part of that don’t you understand?!” He didn’t even look back.
“It is your destiny. If you don’t rise up to it, your people will become enslaved and mine will only be a memory.” This time, he did look back. She was there, in human form. She was about 5’2” with long, wavy, raven-colored hair, an oval-shaped face, full, rosy lips, and a perfect hourglass body frame. She was breathtakingly beautiful.
“I’ll do it, but I want to rest on this world for tonight, if that’s alright.” He was beginning to regret turning down the opportunity.
“Thank you. My name is Artemis,” She said with a considerable amount of relief.
“Artemis. That’s a good name. It means The Hunter. My name is Alexander, but everyone just calls me Alex.”
“Alexander is a good name, too. It means Defender.”
Now that he was accepting the situation, she was beginning to like him more as she learned more about him. He seemed to have an aura of leadership around him. Even if he didn’t like the idea, he was their only hope.
“Why were you being chased by someone with a blade?” She asked, breaking the second awkward silence since their initial encounter.
“Honestly, I kissed a girl without knowing that she had a boyfriend who was part of a gang. That was him, by the way. I’m guessing the demons killed your queen for power.”
“Yes, but now they’re hunting the rest of us for sport.”
“It seems more to me like they’re hunting you down to prevent you from finding me and forming a resistance.” She seemed to be the type whose mind was sometimes clouded by emotion, whereas he was the type to see the true logic.
“That didn’t even occur to me, but now that you mention it, it certainly sounds like it.”
A logical mind, too! It seemed as if the more he spoke, the more he became the leader they deserved in place of the Queen. In some ways, he was even more qualified than her. It was almost as if she had gone in searching for nickel and came out with gold.
“So theoretically, we’d get to your world by means of another rift. Do you know what might have triggered me to open the one that brought you here?” Alex asked, breaking yet another awkward silence.
“It might have been extreme emotion or imminent distress,” Artemis replied.
“If it was extreme emotion, then any emotion should work, but I don’t want to use fear again. I’ve had enough of that for one week.”
“Same,” she responded.
---------------------------------------------------------
They arrived at a location that Artemis thought fit to open a rift between the two worlds. Alex didn’t like it because it was in the middle of a dense forest, but he trusted Artemis’ judgment. After all, they didn’t want to be seen opening a rift by anyone who might scream and run.
“So how exactly am I supposed to open this rift? I’m still new to this, and the first time I opened a rift was completely unintentional,” Alex inquired.
“Close your eyes and think back on something that brought out a great deal of emotion in you, then extend your hand and say, “In naturam.”” Artemis answered.
Alex closed his eyes and thought back to the time his mother took him to a dinosaur museum. While he was there, Alex had purchased a Velociraptor tooth as a souvenir. He had been so happy and excited. He still wore the tooth on a string around his neck. He touched it with his right hand and extended his left as he said the magic words. He opened his eyes to see that the rift had opened in a tree. Alex had been hoping that it would have opened in the air, but it seemed that fate was playing a cruel trick on him just to spite him. He started to back away, but Artemis grabbed his hand and pulled him through the rift. He closed his eyes again and hoped that they wouldn’t get stuck in a tree.