A Plan

[Artemis' Point of View]

As she opened her eyes, Artemis groaned. She looked around, only to discover that she was lying on a straw bed inside what appeared to be a hut. She got panicked and glanced around, finally spotting her brother resting next to her, and sighed with relief.

When she heard a noise, she went on the defensive and turned to face the woman who had entered. Artemis inhaled deeply as she gazed at the woman who exuded a sense of life and nature. She felt close to her as she began to let down her guard. Her dark skin and brown hair gave her an unusual beauty that few others in the cosmos could match.

"Who are you and where the hell are we?" Artemis frowned in an attempt to appear as intimidating as possible.

The woman immediately appeared next to her. Artemis couldn't resist being hoisted up by the black-skinned woman who started showering her with kisses.

"Stop this nonsense, madwoman." Artemis tried to escape her grip but to no avail.

"Mmnh," Apollo woke up when he heard the noise, only to be scooped up by the fervent woman.

"Madwoman. Hmph. You could at least greet your great-grandmother nicely. I couldn't resist myself. It's been so long since I've seen any of my children. " She said with tears in her eyes.

Seeing this, both the twins felt guilty. But at the same time, they were mind-blown. If what was said was true, the woman in front of them was Gaea in the flesh. Gaea, as in f'ing Gaea. The very first God. The God who created the universe's numerous pantheons. Most of her legend had been buried by the passage of time, and the twins only knew of her through various lessons from Leto.

"Are you Goddess Gaea from the legends?" Apollo asked, standing next to his sister, who had stars in her eyes.

"And who else would I be? You stand before the illustrious and mighty Gaea herself. "Huhu."Gaea laughed haughtily. The siblings just stared at her with a blank expression.

"What?" Gaea said, shocked. "Leto said that if I act like this, I can appear more majestic. She also told me to copy a certain powerful blue-haired Goddess who even had a large following of worshipers. " Gaea said, confused.

The siblings looked disillusioned and in utter disbelief at the result of one of their mothers' 'harmless' pranks. They had already gotten used to their mothers' queer behavior.

"Excuse me, goddess," Artemis started.

"Call me Grandma, kids. Cut the formalities, will you? But please don't call me what your mother calls me though. That's just rude. " Gaea huffed.

Artemis continued.

"As I was saying, why are we here? Because, if my memory serves me correctly, we were in Delos. We were a long way from Midgard. How did we get here? "

"That is something I will tell you later, kids. You may not be feeling pain right now because I am reducing it with my powers, but you are both injured. I could heal you right now, but that would be detrimental to your long-term health. So I suggest you rest for the time being," Gaea said authoritatively.

"But..." Artemis wanted to complain, but after seeing the stare she was getting, she grumbled and went back to sleep. She considered sleeping after looking at her brother. Even with the pain-reduction spell, Gaea had cast on them, she was exhausted. As she drifted back to sleep, she recalled her first fight, in which she had to put her life on the line.

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Artemis was terrified right now. She never said it explicitly, but she was never the overly confident and cheerful persona she projected. She felt inadequate in comparison to her brother. She was disappointed when their first abilities manifested. It was fun talking to animals, but it was more useful to passively get stronger by simply being outside in the sun.

She noticed that her brother was becoming faster and stronger than others, quickly surpassing an adult Olympian or Titan in a matter of days. As a result, she resolved to outperform her brother in terms of skills. She chose archery, her favorite talent. But she was taken aback when she saw that her brother had outperformed her months of training simply by using the bow once. She was envious that he had never missed a target and had accomplished several impossible feats. They were twins, and they were supposed to be equals. However, a nagging feeling emerged that she had failed to meet the standard.

She was disappointed when her brother gave up the bow, stating that he preferred fighting close and personal. Her mother and aunt consoled her, saying that everyone in God's family had unique talents. But her impressionable mind couldn't take the constant comparisons of the unwashed masses. She was the princess of the Titans, and she seemed to be weaker compared to her brother. The Titans were a warrior race, so there was a lot of shunning from the common folk, even though they never said it openly. She found solace among the animals that didn't compare her to the prodigy of a brother.

When she first received her powers, she was overjoyed. She could finally raise her head in pride. She quickly overcame her depression by focusing on becoming as strong as her brother.

But she felt that all her training was useless right now. She felt helpless looking at Apollo being beaten up while trying to defend her. She had exhausted all of her mana in the previous attack. She could barely move.

She knew they needed a strategy. She considered the various things she could do with her exhausted body when she had a eureka moment. She decided to go ahead with it despite how horrible it was.

"Can you keep him distracted, Al?" "I'll be back in a minute," she yelled as she struggled into the forest.

"Do whatever you want, but do it quickly."

Apollo yelled, narrowly avoiding a slash that would have severed him.

"Look at that girlie." She's already on the run for her life. Surrender, child; I'll make it quick. "Aren't you tired yet?" Arai yelled as he swung his greatsword with lethal precision.

"I can do it all day," Apollo yelled, delivering a punch to the oncoming sword, deflecting it, and resulting in cracks in it.

He was already bleeding. His armor was broken in many places. He reckoned he could stay put for just a bit longer.

His opponent came to a halt. He appeared to be in a lot of pain. Apollo watched on as his opponent collapsed and began spasming and rolling around. The man opened his mouth to scream, but his pupils dilated as his stomach bloated.

"Help, fuck this hurts," Arai screamed as his body expanded and then exploded, spraying brain matter and blood all around him.

Apollo stared in disbelief at his sister, who was standing in the middle of the gore fest, shivering and trying to clean herself.

" What the hell?" Apollo shouted trying to keep the bile down while simultaneously trying to stand up with his bleeding body.

"I transformed into a schist. went microscopic. and then expanded. I wouldn't recommend that though. " Artemis laughed while panting, looked around in disgust. She then abruptly collapsed her mana shortage catching up with her.

Apollo caught her just as she was about to fall into the bloody puddle. He was experiencing dizziness. He became aware of multiple presences approaching them. He recognized them and allowed himself to fall into Morpheus' arms, following his sister.

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Author's Note:

Well, shit happens. My exams were over and I was like going to write. But then there was a voltage fluctuation and boom goes my laptop adapter. Since I live in the boonies, it took me like a week to get a new charger.

And then I nearly lost my inspiration. I don't know what happened but re-reading this chapter I feel like I was high on something. Don't write something at 3 in the morning. I don't even know when I will release the next chapter but enjoy.