Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

"Yeah. I'm not going down there."
He returns to the 'door'

 

It's shaking.
"Hold on... one... second..." Ren grumbles.

 

"Oh. Good morning."
He looks surprised at the moving door.

 

The rock is finally tipped back where it was.
"Whew... okay. Good morning. You seemed to handle that pretty well." Ren pants.

 

"It went better then expected. Which means I'm getting mentally stronger, I think."
He smiles at Ren.
"Thanks for the rabbit by the way."

 

Artemis opens the envelope, a pair of letters inside. Artemis reads through the first letter, trying to hold back her tears.

 

"Thank Anne. I was a bit too scared to come that close to you during a full moon!" He admits. "My girl's the guardian, not me!"

"Well, we should get something to eat and then head out." Anne says. "Unless, of course, you want to poke around the island a bit more."

Ihra tries to read it over Artemis' shoulder.

 

"No, we should probably go."

 

"We can make priority one getting some water once we get over to the island." Anne says. "The Leviathan should be coming back soon, so we'll eat and then head down."
"I can drop you off at the foot of the volcano." Ren offers.

Anne shrugs.
"Why not? That'll save us some grief."

 

"Sounds like a plan. Let's go, I'm hungry."

 

Anne giggles.
"There's a deer waiting at the mouth of the cave. Dead, of course, but it's all yours."

 

"Very much appreciated." He smiles.
Bardock heads over to the mouth of the cave.

 

Anne and Ren head back down the path, a deer carcass waiting near the mouth of the cave.

 

"Oh. That looks good."
He walks to the deer.
"Wow."

 

Ihra can see that the letter reads:

"To my daughter Artemis,

If you are reading this, then I will have sacrificed myself so that you may bring back Ihra. I understand this will be incredibly hard for you, but know that I was only thinking of you when I chose to sacrifice myself. I understand that I haven't been much part in your life, which is why I have tried my best to spend as much time as I could with you while I was still around. I can see you value Ihra as a very great friend, and I'd rather let myself be the one sacrificed, who was meant to have died hundreds of years ago, than one of your other close friends. I love you, Artemis. I've always loved you even before you were born, and my love will stay with you even if I do not. No matter where you go, no matter what happens to you, I'll always be with you, forever and always.

I know that, with the sacrifice of myself, I won't be able to carry out the ritual on Hallow's Eve so that you can meet your father, if only for one night, again; nor will we be able to be a whole family again. However, I still wish for you to see him again, not just in spirit this time. He helped me reunite with you from the spirit world, so it seems only fair that I return the favor in some way. On the other side of this letter contains a list of instructions to walk you through everything you need to do to temporarily bring your father into the physical world during the one night both worlds overlap.

I have also enclosed another letter within the envelope this one contains. During the night you bring your father back, please give it to him. You may read the letter if you wish, but it is written for his eyes to see.

However, there is one more thing I must ask of you. Something I have kept secret for fear of word getting out. Deep inside the forest in which you live, I discovered a small dragon's nest. The mother dragon trusted me, and in return, I helped her protect her eggs from predators. Since I will have sacrificed myself, I will no longer be able to help the dragon. I simply ask of you to visit the dragons to make sure they're alright, just show my necklace I will have gifted to you to the mother if she is not trusting of you. I would hate to see those young dragons fall to predators, or the mother to be hunted down.

From your loving mother,
Myria."

Artemis' hands shake a little, a few of her tears falling onto the letter as she finishes reading it, before clutching it to her chest.

 

Ihra smiles.
"Maybe they'd like Sgavrinn."

 

"I...I should go see them." Artemis says, trying to cheer herself up as she glances to me.

"Lead the way." I say, shrugging and walking over to Artemis, taking her hand. Artemis heads into her forest, a few of the hanging lights from the trees decorated with spiders, skulls and fake pumpkins.

 

Ihra follows, curious.

 

Artemis heads through her forest; the further she goes, the thicker the flora seems to become, the trees becoming taller and thicker. Ihra even notices a few other forest guardians staring at her from the trees, though well camouflaged.

 

She waves at each of them, continuing to follow Artemis.