Artemis appears

Alissa left so suddenly, leaving Mark all alone…

Mark did not mind being left in solitude. It gave him more time to think in private, as there would also be nothing to distract him.

The place that Alissa had brought him to was some kind of back cornered alleyway that passerby do not pay attention to. It is a calm place where Mark can have all the inner peace that he is in need of, and where there isn't anyone to make him feel embarrassed whenever he encounters failure, or someone that is not supposed to witness his supernatural abilities.

"Haa-haa!" Mark let out a terrified but soft scream after his nails had suddenly turned black before extending into sharp and deadly weapons.

He shook his hand, terrified by what it had done. He had only stared at his hands with a short lasting desire for a supernatural ability, and suddenly, claws! Sharp claws that are made out of some solid and sharp metal-like substance. It was too terrifying for the innocent Mark who does not have a good clue about the dark fictional world…

'Oh, it retracted somehow. Good… I thought it was going to stay there forever.' Mark thought, a bit afraid of his own abilities.

With his slight sense of fear, he inspected his hands while moving them around, which he did in order to see if they were alright. His hands seemed to be fine, and there were no signs of his claws suddenly wanting to appear again. Nonetheless, he had to make sure.

Inspection had already been done, and it was time for him to see if they are still able to function properly. It didn't take long for Mark to start doing some simple hand stretching, which he was able to do with ease. Everything seemed to be fine until he got to the part of stretching his hands by repetitively clenching them into a fist before opening them again.

"Ah!"

When Mark had clenched his hands for the third time, his nails suddenly morphed again. This time it wasn't only a surprise for him, but a surprise that came with pain!

"Damn it! What are these stupid claws of mine?! They just disappeared like that too, after hurting its own owner!" Mark had become frustrated, because of the way his powers acted and the pain he was going through.

"Ah…! Ahh…! He groaned as he tried to blow some wind on his wounds to soothe the pain.

The damage wasn't too grave, fortunately, which Mark felt very glad about. He couldn't help displaying deep gratitude to his claws for not being too long, because he knew that if they were indeed long, he would have simply passed out after seeing them pop out of the back of his hand.

'I… My wounds are visibly recovering. My skin's regenerating!'

Surprise was visible on Mark's face. He was witnessing a miracle right in front of him, and was left flabbergasted because of that. Seeing that something only in dreams is possible in reality, blew his mind metaphorically. Truly, he couldn't believe, nor accept what he was seeing right in front of him.

"Mark!"

"Are you okay? What happened? Did the woman come by?"

It was Artemis who was sounding all worried. Although she had dismissed the chance for the woman to return so soon, she still remained cautious. She did not want to make the same mistake after all, which is why she showed great concern after seeing Mark in a slightly injured state. In her mind, she was already assuming the same scenario of her being wrong with her assumption, and felt regretful and stupid because of that.

'Why did I stay out for too long? I should have reunited with him first instead of waiting for the store to open without him.' She started blaming herself in multiple ways as she ran her way towards Mark.

"Hey, hey, relax. It's only a self injury. I can't seem to control my powers at all…" Mark quickly explained the situation to Artemis, because she looked horrible as she was making her way towards him.

*Phew…* "I thought…"

"Yeah, no… Do you think I'd get injured so easily after the amount of training you had given me? Okay, I actually would…" Mark used humor to calm the stressful looking Artemis even more down.

"Good one. I see… So, she had managed to get you. Unfortunate… Although having powers is great, you're now an ex-human who is under the control of a higher being. We need to leave this country. Maybe if you grow stronger, you can challenge her control. I recollect that woman mentioning you having something like two souls. It should mean that you have great power and potential… We'll have to cultivate your powers if you don't want to become someone's puppet. Where do you think we should go? Certainly, a place that is very far away from here, and where you can cultivate your powers rapidly."

The topic of the conversation had quickly turned into a serious one, as Artemis wanted to know the next approach to their plan in dealing against the troubles that have occurred after the appearance of the vile woman.

"Hmm… I think I know the perfect place the place." A smile couldn't help itself from surfacing on Mark's face as he uttered those words of his…