Chapter 19 - The Shifting

"Now, let the hunt begin," Artemis whispered, nocking the arrow in her bow.

Smaller animals scurried past her into their hiding spot. She saw all this but stood still in her spot. Closing her eyes, she listened to small moments next to her.

'Two meters from me there is a small pig hiding in-between the concrete rubble. Meter to my left there is a small raccoon, three meters behind me there is a chipmunk. These are not fun to hunt,' she pouted.

'Little further, let's check a little further' she thought expanding her sense as far as 100 kilometres. She heard small hoof sound, like that of a..

"Deer" she exclaimed and lowered her bow. "I never expected to see them this far into the mainland," she cheerfully said and rushed towards the direction.

With her rapid steps she reached the place in just five minutes. The area she reached was rather forestry and looked just like a park. "Hmm, there was a small forest here? Let me check the map what this place is," she mumbled, pulling a worn-out paper from her pockets.

The paper looked just like a normal paper when she opened it. "Show me the map of this place," she said, blowing on it a little. Small patch of map started to form from the centre of it and spread towards the edge. The map crinkled by the edges and formed into two large eyes.

"This place is called Inwood Park, which is a natural trail in Manhattan," the map said.

"Wow, are there any deer here in this trail?" Artemis questioned with little excitement in her voice.

"Yes, my goddess, this park had few sightings of spotted deer in the past few years," the map said crinkling its huge dark eyes.

"Nice, I might get a play mate," she whispered. She folded the map into four and tossed it inside her pocket.

Rushing through the trail, she reached the place where a lot of deer were gazing upon grass. "I didn't expect so many," she whispered, walking close to them.

The herd of deer heard her arrival and looked up. "Oh my cuties, come over here. I'll cure you of your decease, my stupid brother spread," she cooed. But the heard seemed wary of her and moved further away.

"You don't need to be afraid. Come here," she whispered, holding her hand out, but the herd started moving away from her.

'Maybe they are afraid of my human form,' she thought as she peered at them. They do seem to fear her towering form so she lowered herself, but this sudden movement scared them even more.

'I think I should take my other form,'

She started stripping her shirt slowly and tossed them on the grassy floor. Soon she stripped all her clothes. She stood naked, watching the herd with a curious look.

"I am also like you," she whispered and started to morph into her other body. Her petite palm shifted into a hood and blond hair started to grow all over her. Her auburn hair turned blond and started becoming short near her nape.

Her spine shifted and set in place with a crunch. Small horns popper on her forehead and started to grow rapidly. A small tail grew out of her tailbone and hair grew out of it rapidly.

Finally, her face started shifting into smaller 'v' shaped; her mouth and nose turned into a black snout and it twitched slightly.

Her body completely morphed into a golden deer. Evening sunlight shone on her glistening mane, creating a golden glow around her.

The rest of the herd saw this and moved closer to her with hesitation. She shook her huge web of antlers as an invitation. The herd saw her movement and got comfortable enough to move closer.

One of the lead bucks moved closer to her and sniffer her and moved back suddenly. It bent its forelimbs and bowed. The rest of the herd followed this and bowed down towards her.

'Oh, so cute,' she thought, moving her head up and down as a permission to rise. The bucks and the deer herded around her and basked in her golden glow.

They cast off white smoke and debris from their body, just like the other animals did.

'Now that you guys are fully healed, why don't we go play together?' she grunted, shaking her head.

One of the bucks ran and started chasing the other, just like that the herd of deer played the game of 'Catch' till the sun fell to the horizon.

Artemis glanced up at the setting sun, 'It's time to go,' she thought with regret.

She walked closer to her clothes and picked her top with her mouth. "Snap," a small twig snapped in the distance. The herd became cautious at this and started moving farther away from the sound.

'That's most probably a chipmunk,' she thought with a shake of her head and kept picking her clothes up.

"Click," A new sound came from the same direction. Startled, she looked up with clothes still in her mouth. She could see a vague figure of a man with a long stick in his hands.

'What is that human doing? What is that stick thingy he has in his hand?' she peered at him with curiosity.

"Bang," a loud gunshot rang from his rifle as the man shot at the golden deer. His shot missed its mark and hit the ground next to it.

"Shit, I missed," he whispered, looking down at the jammed gun. He seriously worked on clearing the jammed pathway and after a while it did.

"Finally," he whispered. He loaded a bullet again and looked out through the viewfinder. But the huge golden buck was nowhere to be seen.

"Eh, where are you?" he whispered, glancing up at from his viewfinder. He looked at the grassy plane to find the herd had already moved away.

"Fuck!" he screamed, throwing his cap down in frustration. It was supposed to be his dinner today, but unfortunately he missed it.

Sighing, he picked up the cap and patted it on his thighs. "Shit, today has been a really unlucky day." he pulled his balding hair back and wore the cap.

A small twig snapped in the distance, startling him. He raised his rifle and glanced towards the general direction. 'Haha, my dinner just walked up to me on its own,' he thought with a wide smirk on his face.

Another small twig snapped to his right. He moved his rifle towards that direction. Nothing was visible through the foliage, so he moved the bushed away with his rifle head.

A small grunt was herd behind him. 'Shit something's behind me. I can't miss it,' he thought and rapidly turned back. A large golden buck stood just a foot away from him. His rifle hit its huge shoulders bones.

He tried moving his gun back to get a good shot, but the buck moved closer and closer. He was not physically able to move the huge rifle any closer to his body. He stepped back and tripped on a twig and fell to his butt.

This gave him a change to take a good aim at the huge buck.

The deer grunted looking at it.

"Die," he screamed and fired his shot.

"Bang," a gunshot rang, scaring the nearby birds away.