Chapter 2

Artemis made sure all the guards and thieves left before she returned deep into the forest. Humans rarely came into the forest and if they did they never made it out until tonight. They had no business being in the forest. It was her home and a safe place from the outside world.

No one who didn't deserve to die would step this deep into the forest unless they had something to hide. Children who loved to play games would try to enter but get scared and leave.

It wasn't the first time thieves had entered here. Fortunately for them, they had gotten away. They would've felt her wrath for calling her a demon. She was a Goddess after all and a powerful one to be feared. She was nothing like those demons. It was very disrespectful for her to be called a demon.

Artemis came from the paradise in the skies where no demon would ever be able to enter. Then again, even as a Goddess, she couldn't even find her way back there. At least demons could freely return home.

Artemis went back to sit at the edge of the lake although she had just grown annoyed by the constant wishes. No matter how many times she tried to escape the tree she always ended up back there again.

It seemed as though the tree had an invisible connection to her. For whatever reason, the tree existed it somehow took on the role of listening to wishes, a task she used to do. However, the tree could not bless them, only Artemis.

"I want to be more beautiful."

"I wish to be rich."

"I want to kill them all."

Artemis was intrigued by this last wish as it stood out amongst the many she had heard for the day. She stood up and walked over the water towards the ancient tree to listen to the wish. She touched a leaf and listened,

"I want to kill them all. Make them pay for what they did to me."

There was something different about this wish but she couldn't quite place her finger on it. Artemis smiled, gripping the leaf tighter, watching as it started to burn. She was corrupting a wish, something she learned to do many years ago.

She had grown bored years ago of having to bless wishes and ended up learning to corrupt one. For her, it was entertaining to see the humans panicking as their wishes backfire.

When she corrupted a wish everything involving the wish always went wrong. From the rich turning to poor, marriage affairs being exposed, greedy people losing all their possessions, etc.

There were very few wishes she blessed and very few she corrupted. For the corrupted ones it depended on how bored she was. But today, she was angry. She was not a demon.

"Demon?" She whispered as the leaf looked burnt. If she continued any longer, more of the leaves would be affected. "Here's your demon," She said not knowing her eyes were starting to show tiny specs of red as a curse was unfolding slowly. Sometimes you couldn't help but be bad when the world kept poking at you.

She released the leaf which instantly started to glow again as another wish came in. She looked up at the sky as though staring at someone but it was three of them. Artemis then closed her eyes letting the darkness consume her body for a moment knowing she had caused a terrible misfortune tonight.

If the world wanted to see demons she would give them one tonight. Artemis was on a thin line between good and bad. Even the brightest places had darkness lurking in the corners.

Just because she was a Goddess made to help humans did not mean she would be kind. She did not ask for this responsibility and the humans did not deserve her kindness. They had turned on her kind first.

Why should she be fair to those who wished to kill her? She would not be granting any wishes nor fulfilling her duties as a Goddess anytime soon. The elders could try and make her though it would be defeated on their end.

They were scared of her, scared of something they sealed away many years ago and was slowly escaping its prison. It was why she was forced to reincarnate and be born again like a new person, forgetting her old feelings.

In the palace, general Alexander Mclane led his guards toward the prison. The thieves would be interrogated by the king tomorrow for their crimes. He slid off his horse and took off his helmet, passing it to a maid who would take it to his room.

Alexander of the notorious Mclane family was a well-recognized general in the palace and across the kingdom. He was following in the footsteps of his father, the current commander, and was destined for a great future. He was loyal to the palace, taking out anyone who posed a threat to the crown.

He made an oath to protect the people of the kingdom from any danger.

As he was patrolling tonight, he and his guards stumbled upon thieves breaking into the homes of poor and rich civilians. His guards chased them but they hadn't anticipated the thieves going into the forest.

It was a place no one should enter because many people disappeared there. He was almost certain they wouldn't have made it out of the forest and they surprised him when they did. Alexander was curious as to how they escaped.

They spoke of a demon chasing them but why would a demon let them get away and also not attack the people it might've seen on the outside of the forest? Could whatever inside the forest not attack anyone beyond the forest ground?

This was a problem for another day to investigate but for now, he was done for the night and wanted to make sure the thieves were put away before he returned to his room. He would've returned home after his duty tonight if not for the thieves.

"General! Guards sent word of a murder taking place in the village!" A guard exclaimed, running over with a note sent from the village guards. He got here as fast as he could to give the general the message after learning the general's group had returned to the palace.

Alexander wasted no time jumping back on his horse. He didn't even care to retrieve his helmet, "Where is it?"

"In the center of the east village," the guard replied.

Alexander rode out of the palace followed by some of the guards. Thieves and now a murder? What was up with tonight?

When he reached the village center, he saw people gathering around a house and the guards were keeping them from going any further. Alexander got off his horse to inspect the scene.

"Report," He said for anyone to answer. Alexander wanted to know all the facts to deal with the situation as fast as he could before any more villagers would show up.

"Two dead, murderer is a young woman. Looks like she stabbed herself after killing the family. The villagers we questioned said she was their daughter. She's barely alive over there."

Alexander walked over to where the guard pointed. There was a young girl, barely alive gasping for air and covered in blood. Why would she have killed her family?

The dying girl tried to look at Alexander, struggling to breathe but only coughed out blood. "I did it. I got my revenge."

He stooped down a little to hear her better. "Why did you kill them?"

"I suffered…..for years. I finally found the courage to do it. Now I can rest in peace," She started feeling the last bits of life slowly leaving her body.

"Why did you kill yourself?" He questioned as many others would just try to escape. She had plenty of time to do it too.

"The law would punish me and I've been punished for years," she whispered slowly turning her head to get a better look at him. "I'm dying but it's the first time I felt so alive. What is that feeling, mister?" She questioned before she passed on.

Alexander remained silent and covered her head with a cloth a guard placed to cover her face when she passed on. She was right, she would have been punished for escaping a life of torture. She would not have escaped the anger of the king.

Everyone was dead so there would be no need to investigate this further. Who would they imprison?

The king would not be pleased with this case being spread through the kingdom, palace, towns, and villages. It had been peaceful for the past month but one night ruined that peace. He wished there was more he could do to prevent events like this from happening.

Artemis scoffed watching the leaf light up as the new wish came in, "So naive."