The Son of Odin (remastered version)

Chapter 2 - Welcome To The Hunt

Chapter Two

Welcome To The Hunt

The Olympian council all left each other to their own devices, flashing out of the throne room in blinding arrays of light, each a colour respective to their assumed domains. Their light reflected off of the golden embossed surfaces with a serene beauty as they each departed in eerie silence.

One by one they all disappeared until it was only Artemis sat in her throne with Perseus standing a few feet away, arms folded in casual anticipation for what the Goddess was going to do next. It was pretty clear to him that from the get go his challenge was going to be extremely painful.

"Come on Asgardian," Artemis beckoned him with a wave of her hand. She stepped away from her throne and began to rapidly shrink until she was about half his height, if that.

"The girls will be dying to meet you, and I must admit I am curious to find out more about an Asgardian Demigod." Artemis nodded slowly, already deep in thought.

"I literally just told you all that I'm not a Demigod." Perseus told her with a quick nonchalant shrug. He realized that if she really wanted to keep calling him a Demigod then there wasn't a whole lot he could do about it.

"I know, but you didn't actually explain what you are, so it will be simpler when we tell my hunters that you're a Norse Demigod, unless his highness has any smarter ideas?" she asked with an edge of sarcasm that was plain and present in her words.

"It's weird to hear that. I know you were mocking me, which is fine because you're a Goddess, but please don't ever actually say that. It's not me, not yet at least." he muttered in response, hoping that she'd at least do that much for him.

So far she'd shown herself to be at least willing to give Perseus a mutual respect which almost betrayed her tags of hating men. How hard could this challenge actually be if this was what passed as someone that hated all men?

"Hmm." she hummed to herself quickly, expression unchanged. "This will definitely prove to be an interesting time while you're with us." Artemis grinned evilly.

Perseus let out a breath that he'd been holding for quite some time. With each passing second it was clearer and clearer that his time serving with the Hunt was going to be mostly painful, at least to begin with.

"Well then, let us be off, I'd hate to keep my new patrons waiting." he smiled back, though most of the smile was forced. It seemed that Artemis registered this with amusement before she clicked her fingers and they were elsewhere once again.

The disorientation was intense just as it had been the first time but his body was starting to adapt to the forced relocation and it didn't stick around half as long as it had previously, that was a good sign that he wasn't going to be rendered to his knees forever when that happened.

He truthfully hoped that he wouldn't be subjected to it much more as it was a horrible way to travel in his opinion.

This time they materialized in a thick forest of healthy green trees that formed a great canopy above their heads. In the distance there was running water, a creek by the sounds of it.

That was probably going to annoy him if he didn't automatically tune it out soon. He could hear birds rustling in the distance, and small animals running around the undergrowth a few dozen yards away. The moonlight was strong tonight, shining through gaps in the canopy, illuminating the forest floor where it could.

Artemis led the way and soon enough they were back at an encampment surrounded by way more girls clad in silver than he'd initially seen. So only about half of them had accompanied the Goddess when they had tracked him down to that garage? That must have meant that the other half stayed as a defensive garrison for their campground.