"You dare come into
MY home?" The voice bellowed, its words echoing, trapped in the chamber. "You dare judge
ME you coward?!"
Artemis stood at the feet of a dark figure, veiled in shadow with wisps of red and black smoke rising from his body. His eyes glowed a vibrant green with waves of platinum hair rolling down his shoulders beneath his cloak. The serpentine eyes glowed brightly with fury, with a massive scar barely visible over the right eye.
"Who are
you to seek me out, to make claims upon my place in this world, when you know not your own?" The voice roared as the figure's arms stretched out to the walls of the dark enclosure, shaking the very walls of the chamber. Artemis shrank before the man's fury and hatred, seeming no more than a mouse before a giant. Black stretched in all directions with the two men facing off.
"I only do what I believe is right," Artemis said meekly.
"Are you so naive to think that right and wrong exist in this world? To believe that one can draw boundaries between the two?" The robed figure clutched at his chest, throwing his shoulder back in boisterous laughter. "Your foolishness will get you killed, boy!"
Artemis narrowed his eyes, lifting his left arm toward the figure. He willed Judicis into his true form, and the bracer upon his wrist dispersed into a haze only to take shape as a bow of raw power. He lifted his right hand and drew back on the string of magic, conjuring an arrow of clear and colorless mist, and let fly at the towering man's face. The projectile flew forth, crystalizing mid-flight and striking the bridge of his nose, causing the man to scream in pain.
"I will not hesitate," Artemis said resolutely, drawing back another arrow and preparing to let fly.
"Fool. Your hubris will cost you your life." The man vanished into a cloud of red and black smoke, losing form and disappearing. Artemis stood in the black expanse, his brow furrowed in determination.
"I will
not hesitate!"