The Unknown Destiny

| Chapter 5 || Wait. What Just Happened? ||

Chapter Five

Wait. What Just Happened?

*First Person Point of View ~ Artemis*

I shivered as the cold wind blew past, creeping under my jacket and tickling my sides as it did so. Scowling, I remembered where we were. Alaska. I hated this place. It was one of the few places in the world that I didn't have my powers and it always made me feel so weak whenever we came here. The only power I still had, was my senses. Good thing, too, because we needed to follow them to find the weapons.

Suddenly, I felt it. There was a surge of incredible power nearby. It must be the weapons. If it wasn't, I didn't want to be around whatever was in its place.

Trudging forward, I felt the crisp frost crunch under my heavy boots. The grass shattered under the pressure in the places where it still poked up, but snow coated pretty much everything, so that didn't happen often. As we turned around a few tall pines, we saw a cave entrance ahead, hidden under a bank of snow. Radiant energy spilled from it, so much so that I could almost taste it. The mouth of the cave was barely a crack in the snow, but we all managed to squeeze through. We had to find out what that was - hopefully, it was the stolen weapons.

My hunters followed me as I forged ahead, sniffing and twisting my head at odd times. If it were any other person, they would've looked crazy, but luckily, my hunters were used to me when I was hunting.

I heard the twang of bowstrings as they drew their weapons, holding their arrows aloft in case of an attack. The cave had widened as soon as we entered, so we shuffling along in a group, holding our torches high to light the way. I noted along the journey that there were multiple scars in the rock walls, like claw marks. However, we could not stop when we were so close, for the deeper we went, the more powerful this divine aura became.

Once we hit a lower point, though, all our torches flickered. They flickered once, and then twice, and then they went out completely.

"Milady? What happened?" a young hunter asked.

"It must've been the wind. Caves like these funnel the wind so that it's more powerful than outside," I replied. I couldn't see her, but I tried to reassure her.

"But Milady," she insisted, "There was no wind. I felt nothing and my torch just went out!"

"Then...I'm not sure what happened." I hated being unsure. My hunters replied on me to be their leader - and their protector, at times - but now, I couldn't seem to do either. I could at least try to be the leader with what little abilities the borders left me. Pulling out some flint and steel, I made sure to pass it along so it would reach the hands of the torchbearers.

"Flint and steel," was whispered at it traveled from hand to hand.

One by one, the torches were lit, but they were all dim. Why was that? The fires seemed to barely glow - like dying embers rather than lively flames. However, as soon as the last one was lit, they all flared to life, raging so high they almost touched the ceiling. That would've been good - as long as it didn't harm anyone - if it wasn't for the blinding light revealing only an army of monsters around us.

Thousands upon thousands of hellhounds and Dracaena surrounded us in a large cave chapter, piling over each other and moving together so that it made it impossible for me to see how many there really were.

Pure, unadulterated silence reigned for a whole two seconds before the first Dracaena roared out a battle cry and attacked. The hellhounds followed her lead, swarming down around us in a mess of fur, claws, and teeth.