1 Birth of the Hunt

Artemis was on the hunt.

It wasn't just any hunt either. She was without her hunters, which hadn't happened in year, but she relished in the freedom of being by herself. She could take her time, plan things out not worry about the safety of her devoted maidens. She had the sovereignty to make this hunt what she wanted, and being a Goddess didn't always have this. It was always "be here" or "there is a meeting upon Olympus, your Father has summoned you" or "It's time to drag the moon across the sky again." But tonight, the moon was new, and she could liberty to chase her prey, and what a pray it was.

The hunters had told her stories of a Griffon, an unusual sight in Central America, even if the fires of the gods burned throughout the country. But this Griffin had golden fur that was almost impossible to penetrate with arrow or blade, no matter how hard they tried. Artemis guess that somewhere along the beast's blood line it had mixed with a Nemean Lion, a rare creature indeed. Much to their dismay, she told them this was to be her hunt, she just felt it should be just her and her own wits. Its pelt would make a fine addition to the hunts spoils regardless of who was accompanying her.

She had been following her pray for a day and a night, she knew it was midnight now. The beast had not eluded her as such, but it wasn't easy to follow. Track, yes, it left giant eagle like footprints in its wake, and when it flew broken branches made it clear where it had gone. But she had made little ground, but she didn't care. She savoured the hunt.

She ran through the dense woodland, her silver hunting dress glistened slightly by the little moonlight the new moon gave of, but it was a clear night, the stars shone above her, lighting her path. The goddess normally looked young, around 13, this being her preferred appearance, but she decided to stay in her older form. She wasn't childlike, she looked almost a woman, somewhere in her early 20s. She hadn't put her bow away since she started the hunt, it was here tradition not to put it away unless the hunt was over. She felt like tonight was the night she would catch it, but soon she started to feel tired, being a god didn't mean she would get tired. She was reluctant to stop but decided if she was she was to make use of it, clean herself and start fresh from that.

She sensed a spring nearby and decided that was as good a place as any. Artemis walked into the clearing and looked around. The scene was captivating. The goddess stood in an almost perfect semi-circular clearing, the centre of which houses a large spring that was feed by a waterfall, about 20 feet high on a rock cliff that cut through the middle of the forest. The water from the spring flowed down a stream that winded down the forest behind her. The water was crystal blue, the waterfall creating a misty spray that made the view almost magical. Artemis smiled, she had bathed in many similar pools but they always made her relax.

Artemis approached the water and laid down her bow and quiver, this didn't break her tradition, counting this as a 'Time out' almost. She then reached around her back, pulling at the strings which held her hunting gown, and pulled them loose, letting the garment fall onto the grass silently.

As she wadded her deeper into the pool and closer to the waterfall where she intended to bathe, exposing her nakedness to the forest, she had seemed to age dramatically. Her body glistened slightly under to bright night sky, her silver hair draped down her back and past her breasts, covering them. She then stood under the waterfall and began to bathe herself. She had always felt at her most intimate as the warm water crashed onto her skin, cleansing herself of the blemishes of dirt and sweat she had gotten hunting the beast. Artemis felt her worries about the hunt, her godly duties, everything flow away with the water that fell of her form.

As she brushed her hair clean, she gazed up at the bright stars that illuminated the pool with sparkling reflection. She looked at a certain constellation of stars and smiled. "Hello. Old friend." She spoke to them. The stars seemed to shine brighter as she spoke to them, almost like a response to her greeting. She smiled again, a small blush even made it across her face as she thought of her old love watching her bathe. She was a maiden, and therefore couldn't not be intimate with a man, but she had loved a giant hunter once upon a time, and when Gaia had taken him away from her, she begged Zeus her father to immortalise him in the stars. There he stayed, watching her pull the moon across the sky as she watched him, always in wonderment as to if he could really see her.

She continued to gaze up at her old friend, a tear in her eye as she reminisced about the hunts they had shared. He was the man who almost changed her opinion of men, they weren't all horrible lustful monsters she had once thought they were. He made her see some can be loyal, and loving. Artemis forced herself to stop thinking of such trivial things, men could not be trusted. But as she bathed she suddenly felt a presence behind her. When she turned there wasn't anyone there, but she felt the force reach around her bare body, holding around her stomach genially in a longing embrace. She didn't fight the presence, for some reason it felt, familiar, warm and safe. Artemis closed her eyes and let the presence hold her.

She could see with her senses the presence was shaped almost like a human torso, but its legs were missing and instead a mist emanated around them. The presence seemed to be trying to speak but no words come out. She turned to face it, her eyes still closed still trying to use her sense to see it rather than her eyes. "Orion?" she said as she cupped its invisible head in her hand, she felt nothing to touch but she knew he felt it smile then disappear, leaving her alone again, almost anyway.

She focused on the water that crashed on her face again, almost so much she nearly didn't notice something approaching the water from the forest.

Quickly she stopped washing herself, and watched the trees that surrounded the clearing, trying to pick out anything moving. Whatever it was it is hiding, maybe the griffin had returned. Maybe it was a man who had seen her bathing. That would certainly be punishable if true.

"Who goes there?" she shouted to the woodland, not even bothering to reach for her clothes and weapons, since it was already pointless, she would punish whoever it was like last time. "I warn you, last time a male gawked at my maiden purity I turned him into a boar and had hounds hunt him down for his blasphemy!" she waited for any sign of movement.

Finally behind a tree something moved. Turned as the figure moved out of the shadows. It was not a man, but a pure, white Stag. Artemis gazed upon the magnificent creature and strode out of the pool toward the Deer. She spoke to it in a gentle voice. "Well hello there, you are a beautiful creature. I am Artemis and I mean you no harm." It didn't run in fear, and she approached it still lacking any clothing. She stroked it between its two large antlers and spoke to it again.

"What quest of yours bring you here noble beast?"

The Deer didn't speak to her which was odd, usually she could understand animals, even mystical ones. But she did notice its eyes move away from her and look at something from atop the waterfalls cliff.

She was about to turn when she heard the shriek emit from the beak of the mighty golden Griffin she had been hunting. It eagle wing were spread wide, its wingspan easily at least the same length as the waterfall. Its lion's body was indeed covered in golden fur that hadn't even been scratched by the arrows her hunters had tried to plunge into it. Its beak however was black, probably a result of its usual heritance. It flew down into the shallows of the pond, and stalked toward the naked goddess.

Artemis smiled and left the Stag by the trees, where it still refused to move more. The goddess smiles, she had look forward to a challenging hunt. She was unarmed and unprotected, she was going to enjoy this. The Griffin lunged with its sharp beak but it was large and slow. With ease Artemis dodged its lung and dived for her bow that lay on the rock next to her clothes. She grabbed it, slung the quiver around her back and drew an arrow all in the space it would take you to blink. She fired arrow after arrow, not at its indestructible fur but at its face, trying to blind its eyes. The Griffin cried in anger blindly trying to knock Artemis with its head, charging at her. She rolled to the left, bringing herself up quickly and taking aim at its eye. She focused her shot and time seemed to slow around her as the arrow pinged from her string, off the bow and straight through the air into the creatures left eye.

The behemoth screamed in agony as the arrow lodged itself in its eye socket. The wailed, trying desperately to shack it out with no avail. Artemis took her chance, grabbing a roped arrow from her quiver and jumping on the Griffin's back. It was too busy trying to get the arrow free to notice Artemis looping the rope around its neck, attempting to kill the griffin the same way Heracles had bragged to her many times how her killed the Nemean lion. She pulled on the rope, crushing the creature's windpipe, attempting to strangle it to death. The beast writhed and bucked, trying to launch Artemis off its back, but she held strong, pulling to rope with all her strength. After what seemed like forever the creature finally collapsed dead. The hunt was over.

Artemis got off the Griffin's back and walked to her head of the animal. She bent down and stroked it fur, whispering to it. "Thank you for pleasure of hunting you. You will make a fine prize. Be blessed with an eternal rest in the Underworld." The beast began disintegrated into dust, but the golden feather and fur hide stayed for Artemis as a spoil, as part of her hunt. She left it for a moment as the Stag had trotted closer to her, its black eyes staring intently at her.

"My hunt is over." She said to it. It seemed to nod at her. Suddenly something that she had never seen before happened.

The Stag began to shine brightly, its physical body becoming more spirit like as she watched. Soon all that was left of the Stag was a white spectral orb that hung in the air for a second, then it shot towards Artemis, who was not expecting it. She only stood there as it hit her in the stomach, right into her womb. She gasped but felt no pain, all she felt was a slight tingling warmth, and then nothing. She stood there for a second, confused. She impatiently walked over to her clothes and put them back on and out her bow away, her hunt finally over.

But a journey had just begun.

Artemis entered her hunter's camp while the moon was still in the sky. The hunters gathered around her, asking how the hunt went, many stroking and gawping at the pelt she had dragged with her. Usually she would tell the girls every detail of the hunt but she suddenly felt tired and queasy. She left them to add the hide to the spoils and entered the nearest tent. When she laid on her bed and fell asleep almost instantly, which was strange for a goddess, or any god, they hardly ever slept.

Artemis slept for days and weeks at a time. The hunters gathered around her worried. She felt too tired to speak to them, until one night, two week after her hunt, she awoke to find her head hunter, Zoë Nightshade, looking at her with worried eyes. Artemis felt strong enough to tell them about her hunt, excluding the part about the possible visit from Orion under the waterfall, right up to when she killed the Griffin and the strange encounter with the Stag.

"The Stag just… became like a spirit? This is… I've never heard anything like this." Zoë said to Artemis after she finished her story.

"Neither have I, but that was no normal Stag. It was a Spirit of the hunt. A physical spectre of our sacred practices. But what I don't know is what it did to me. It entered me, right here." She pointed to the part where to glowing orb had entered her belly. "I felt this, warm tingling and then, when I got back to camp I felt, tired and…" Suddenly the goddess burst into tears. Zoë looked surprised but she comforted the goddess, trying to think about what might have happened to her.

"Milady, I have I thought but it is rather, farfetched." Zoë began. Artemis looked up at her hunter with puffed up eyes, desperate for any solution. "What if this spirit of the hunt, it entered you and, bonded with you and…" She prepare herself for the maiden goddess's reaction. "And created life in your womb."

Artemis stared at Zoë, a look of absolute bewilderment on her face. She couldn't quite believe what Zoë had proposed to her. Her, baring a child, and a child of a non-human force? Well, weirder things happen to gods, but this? She was a maiden, surely this broke her oath. Thinking about it, no part of her oath said anything about baring a child. She just…

Now that she thought about it, she could sense, something inside of her, growing. Being the goddess of childbirth she could sense it. She could believe it. A child of her own. She wasn't sure how to think about it, how to feel about it. Never had she gave birth, only help give it. She felt so confused, she felt like bursting into tears again, which would be the second time that happened in the span of a few minutes. Maybe what Zoë said was true, she was baring a child. Her first child.

She couldn't help but smile at the thought. A child. A person bound to her forever, something she can mother apart from young hunters and does. She looked at Zoë, who waited her mistress's reaction with baited breath. "Zoë, gather the hunters. We have a new member to prepare for."

9 months, 4 days, 3 hours and 47mis later.

The camp was in tranquillity. The campfire embers had burned out, leaving only black smoke to raise gently into the sky. The wind brushed through the tents, and all the occupants lay asleep, resting after a hard day's work. It was more than days though, it had been month since they had peaceful night's sleep thanks to their goddess constant needs, but tonight could possibly be there release.

Maybe. Most likely not.

From the largest tent of then all an ear-splitting scream of pain and discomfort breached the tranquillity. Hunters poured out of their tents, some even believing the cry was that of an animal, but what it was far worse.

Zoë ran out of the large tent, barking at the group to get in the large tent. She ordered a few to get things like clean towels, some water and ambrosia nectar. The hunters rushed around, excited. Today was finally the day. The Princess of the hunt would be born. After all the nights of catching rabbits to sustain Artemis's cravings, all the sleepless nights of her bickering and whinging about how uncomfortably fat she was, and they dreaded the even remember about her mood swings. A pregnant goddess can be more frightening then a Medusa on a bad hair day.

After a long, painful night of rushing around, new cries could be heard from the large tent. The hunters gathered, waiting to be allowed in to see their new companion. Some were predicting the weight and even eye colour. Pretty much all of them were convinced it would be a girl, but they would soon find out.

Zoë finally exited the ten, whipping sweat on her brow. Witnessing a god give birth was a wonderful and rare sight, but Zoë looked as if she had seen Tartarus and then some. She gestured to the girls that they could enter. The all walked slowly to the bed where Artemis lay, holing a bundle of cloth in her arms. She seemed to have finally be able to change her age, throughout the pregnancy he looked to be in her early 30's, but now she was younger, perhaps touching 20.

"Everyone." She said with a smile. "I'd like you to meet our newest hunter." She turned the baby to face then and the hunters mouths all seemed to drop.

It was a healthy baby boy.

"Oh for fuck sake it's a male." Said one as she exchanged Drachmas with one another.