Artemisia bore down on me with a leaping thrust with her newly-acquired spear. I dodged only to be bashed by her shield. She hit me in the chest, knocking the wind out of me and causing me to stumble backwards.

“Come on.” She groaned. “For such a young man I’d expect your reflexes to be a bit better.”

Before I could recover to a sturdy position she charged again. She swiped at my torso with her shield but I tumble rolled forward, getting underneath the strike. As soon as I regained my footing behind her I hurled my spear. She turned around just in time to dodge.

“Throwing again?” She rolled her eyes. “Really?”

I called my spear back towards her right side and waited for her to notice. As she did I blitzed her left, body slamming into her as she moved to evade my returning weapon. My spear lodged itself in the sand behind me and Artemisia lost grip of her shield as it skidded to the side. The two of us thudded onto the floor, but I quickly transitioned to the mount for a ground and pound. I managed one punch, which she dodged, causing my fist to strike the sand. Before I could pull back for another swing, she struck back, jabbing my face twice. My vision blurred in my disoriented state and my nose throbbed as I fell on my back. 

“Good try.” She burst to her feet and called one of my spears into her hand. She lifted the weapon’s point to my chest. “But I’m too fast for you.”

I reached out for my other spear, but I felt the blade of my other one press harder against my chest.

“Do you even know what these are imbued with?” She scoffed. “The power you inherited from your father?”

“I‒”

“His Immortals were only given weapons with magic contained in them.” She continued. “They don’t wield the real deal.”

She tossed her helmet off as her eyes flashed a dark purple. Strands of the same colored energy swirled around the spear. She followed my gaze to the weapon, then tossed it aside. Her hands curled into fists as the magical aura surrounded them, then travelled up the full lengths of her arms.

“What is this?” I wiggled back as my pulse hammered against my neck. 

“This….” She heaved in a breath through her nose with closed eyes, then exhaled. “Is power.”

I snapped out of shock and burst to my feet, then called both spears back to me. The one she had held still coursed with magic. I thrust forward with both spears, but she simply caught them both by their upper shafts, yanked them from my hands, and tossed them to the side.

“Your father thought you would discover your magic and be better than he was.” She threw her arms in the air. “He thought you would use this corruptive force and turn it into a cleansing one. But Darius was a fool, and so are his sons. Especially Xerxes.”

I roared as I charged her with only my fists and threw a punch. She caught it and bent it backwards, breaking my wrist. I wailed as stinging pain shot up my arm in three successive bursts. My entire hand numbed and I fell to my knees panting, but her grip on me held fast. Corruption seeped from her hand, its tendrils latching onto my own as it began its spread up my arm, secreting a liquid smoke as it traveled. 

“That’s it.” She hissed. “Fall to your knees and grovel. Cry out in pain as I take your life away. Cry out just like your mother did when I took hers.”

My mother’s face flashed before me as my eyes drooped closed. Her brown eyes. Her tender smile. Artemisia’s voice faded out as hers came into focus within my mind: “Theophilus. My dear Theophilus. There will come a time when the power given to you by your father will push you down a path you may not like. When that time comes, you must do what no one thought you could do.”

“What will I have to do?” A younger version of myself asked. “I like throwing and catching my spears! It’s fun!”

“You must resist.”

The scene in my head shifted to a garden during a sunny day. Rows of white, pink and light purple hyacinths, and narcissi of different shades of yellow saturated the area, with white fences bordering the yard. The ground and plants were still damp from being watered earlier. I knelt down to pick one of the pink hyacinths when I noticed blood on the flower. I stood up to then notice a trail, which I followed down four rows of flowers.

And there she laid. 

My mother, in her blood-stained white tunic, was murdered and left to rot amongst the beauty of the garden. Her smooth skin was wrinkled. Her lips and veins were black. And her eyes‒ 

Oh, her eyes.

The light in them was long gone as they stared coldly into the shining sun above.

“Shame, really.” Artemisia’s voice came back into focus as the scene in my mind vanished. My eyes burst open. “I guess I’ll have to hunt and kill Isadora myself.”

A piercing howl escaped my mouth, emitting a slight shockwave. The three onlooking elves stumbled backwards, and so did Artemisia, as she lost her grip on my wrist. Though, they all regained their footing immediately.

“Let ‘em have it, Theo!” Damien shouted from the tomb’s entrance. I glanced over to see him, along with Atemu and Illias, in combat with the elves.

“Well that was unexpected.” Artemisia slow-clapped. “But I‒”

“You murdered my mother?!” My voice reverberated. “You?”

“Yes.” She snarled. “And I told Darius to have you murdered as well, but he couldn’t find it in himself to give the order. Now here we are.”

“And justice will be had.” As I rose to my feet, adrenaline and power rushed through me, giving me a second wind. My right hand hung limp from my wrist, seeing that it was still broken, but the pain had vanished. The dark purple aura surrounded it, along with my other hand.

“Call it whatever you want to make yourself feel better with what you’re about to do.” She glanced over at the elves and nodded at them. “Let’s just get this over with.”

The three men sheathed their swords, then banged their fists together and let loose a guttural sound. A dark red sphere encircled each of their bodies, and when the energy dissipated, they were gone.

“Why did you just‒”

Artemisia cut me off by throwing her shield at me. I put my hands up in an ‘X’ block in time and the shield bounced off. Once it thumped onto the sand, it started to steam. The very aura of magic around my hands swept over the shield causing it to melt in a matter of seconds.

My attention came back to the queen of Halicarnassus as she rushed me. She had called one of my spears to her and swung it at me haymaker style. I ducked and punched down on the back of her knee while she spun, then uppercut her side. She yelped and fell to her hands and knees.

“Bad idea to send your bodyguards away.” I kicked her ribs, forcing her to roll over and sprawl onto her back.

“Bigger picture.” She smirked through a wince. “Now get it over with.”

“As much as I want to.” I took a deep breath, letting the magic dissolve from my hands, and turned my back. “No.”

“Weak!” She yelled. “What Darius ever saw in you I‒”

A thunking sound surprised me and I turned back around to see Artemisia unconscious, with a golden ankh resting in the sand behind her head.

“What?” Atemu shrugged as she approached me. “She was gonna get in a cheap shot.”

Illias and Damien were close behind her, still descending the ramp from the tomb’s entrance.

“The elves we were fighting just disappeared in some red circle thingy.” She glanced behind me to check for the other bodyguards. “Yours too I presume?”

“Yea.” I gritted my teeth. “Did you guys.. uh… hear anything?”

“You mean your conversation with Artemisia?” She shook her head. “Nope.”

A sigh of relief escaped me. 

“Your wrist.” She cupped my broken hand into hers. “Let me fix you up.”

“Theoooooooooooo!” Illias sprinted at me, then went in for a hug. Atemu stepped away just in time.

“Ow.” I groaned. “Your armor is killing my bare chest here.” 

“Sorry.” He stepped back, then leaned in to whisper. “Your girlfriend’s got some moves, man.”

“She’s not my‒” I rolled my eyes. “Nevermind.”

Damien was the last to get to me, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he motioned for me to follow him.

“One sec.” I patted Illias’ shoulder, then followed the dwarf. We stopped at the head of the first ramp that led back into the desert from the courtyard. 

“Don’t think I don’t know what I just witnessed.” His voice was stern. “You’re lucky the other two were too busy fighting the elves.”

“I‒”

“So we’re bringing Artemisia back to Themistocles now?”

“Uh…” I scratched the back of my neck. “Not exactly.”

“Isadora first?” He squinted up at me.

“How’d you‒”

“You’re a really bad liar.” He turned back to join up with Illias and Atemu. “You coming or what? The queen isn’t going to carry herself.”