Of visions and pets

When John exited the barrier, he took the two steps required to return to the camp, not having felt the need to challenge fate and move away too far from the camp for his grinding.

As he entered the camp, the hunters were still as bustling as he left it. The excitement that came with the arrival of Dra and Archibald hadn’t died down in the slightest. With his new bow strapped to his back and both his pets happy to rest on his shoulders, he made his way to the temple of Artemis in the middle of the camp, barely dodging a woman carrying a stack of quivers as he tried to quickly move over the narrow paths between the many tents.

When he reached the temple, he saw Archibald and Miranda slip inside just before him. He was curious as to what they were doing, but first he had to take care of something else. In front of the brazier, John pulled out the tusks from his inventory, bowing in front of the flame slightly before speaking: “Lady Artemis, you were right, of course you were. Please, accept this offering.” After speaking he scattered the tusks into the fire, both Jack and Toph staring into the flames from his shoulders.

A small ball of light appeared above the brazier seconds after the tusks disappeared, splitting in two as it flew at John. Just as they were about to hit John, however, they took a sharp turn, both of them heading directly for his pets. Jack slapped his paw at it, the light playfully dodging it and then colliding with his head, merging into it without a problem. The other light ball danced around Toph, the pangolin staring at it, until it too collided with her head and merged into her.

John looked at his pets, watching their eyes turn glassy for a moment, before they turned their heads at the same time, staring at John. A bundle of light stretched from Jack’s eyes first, connecting the feline’s head to John’s, and then Toph’s eyes shone as well, aiming at the opposite side of John’s head .

John’s vision went white, the feeling of once more getting dragged through time and space, like when he had gotten his pets, once more taking him under its spell.

Jack and Toph were waiting for him in the white nothingness, Jack playfully mewing as he darted after Toph around a, by now, familiar woman. “John Newman, I see you took my words as gospel and ran with it. Good,” the melodious voice of Artemis rang out. The Goddess’ auburn hair danced as if the wind was playing with it even though they were in a place of nothingness.

Artemis’ stern gaze locked onto John as Jack kept chasing Toph around her legs. “Normally, you would get a vision in your sleep, normally, people would not get their vision days after obtaining their pet, and normally, I would not pay the slightest attention to one of my hunters. But, normal is one of the words not applicable to you, John, now is it?”

Her gauntlet covered arm reached into her green leather clothes, pulling out a map. “You will need this,” she stated as she tossed it at him. John barely catched it as he looked at the slightly distant goddess. She had complimented him, but her eyes still betrayed not even a hint of a smile.

“You have grown over the past days, Mr Newman, but as I told you before, you are far from an important piece to me now, at most you are a pawn with potential; in the grand scheme of things you may or may not be important, but I will not give you preferential treatment because of it. Do what you are tasked to do, and you will earn what you need.”

John nodded, his eyes serious as he answered her. “Yes, lady Artemis. I understand. I will continue to work hard; I do not want to be a burden on the organisation. Thank you for the map. I take it this is the moment when I get those visions Arnold spoke about?”

Artemis nodded, her lips curling into what could best be described as a faint smile. “See that you do, and as for the map. I just told you, you earned it. I will keep it short, I have more to do than just orchestrate your life after all. Your visions will start when I leave you, experience them, try to remember as much from them as possible; it will make your hunt easier. I have high hopes for you, Mr Newman, make sure to come back alive.”

Artemis nodded at him, clicked her heels and disappeared. Jack and Toph turned their focus back to their master. Jack walked up to him first, Toph staying back as she managed to make a pebble appear from the nothingness, letting it dance around her as entertainment.

Jack dropped down to a crouch, ‘stalking’ John as he went through his knees, who extended his palm to pat his leopard. Jack licked his palm softly, his rough tongue leaving a wet trail over the palm of his hand before he pounced, headbutting John, and the moment their skulls connected, John’s vision got dragged away again.

John saw a forest from above, huge trees reaching into the skies with their branches as far as his eyes could see. Small birds flying around, screaming at each other high above the foliage, large birds diving after the smaller birds, trying to gather a meal for the day. He slowly flew lower, moving through the upper layers of foliage, seeing snakes and lamia stalking some of the larger birds from below. Further down there were apes hanging on branches. Smaller birds, swarms of insects and butterflies flying around in the little light the trees let through. On the forest floor, the ocasional carcass could be seen tucked in between the roots of a tree or underneath a bush. As he moved, John could see some of the most incredible creatures: a rabbit with antlers, a creature that was mostly bone with a hint of skin running across the ground, phasing through a tree that was in his way, and a mushroom with a face shooting spores at a nearby lizard. The sounds that assaulted him were numerous; the entire forest was buzzing with life, and just as John was wondering which of these creatures he would have to hunt, he saw it.

A sleek, black unicorn, its horn curved upwards like a sabre, its fur was short and matted with small wounds, its eyes were red as blood as it attacked a wolf in its way. The horn penetrated the wolf’s skull like it was tofu, pulling the head off of its rump without any trouble, and with a flick of its mane, the head got thrown away, and the unicorn galloped away. It whinnied loudly, then moved off into the distance, and John followed, the unicorn eventually returned to its home, a hollowed out log, surrounded by the corpses of animals, big and small; there was even the skull the size of a dog off to the side.

John’s consciousness got pulled away after seeing the unicorn lay down for a nap. His eyes opening just long enough to see Toph dash straight for him, jumping and butting her head against his.

This time, he saw a humongous mountain, a gigantic bird flying around the top up high in the distance, its shadow enough to cause an eclipse on the ground. As far as John could see, there were streams of water, crevices, caves and tunnels. He saw large bears walk around on their hind legs, one of them carrying a large bat over its shoulder, its wings slightly twitching. John could not see a lot of other creatures, but the closer to the ground his vision went, the clearer John could see the smaller animals moving across the sparse plant life. John closed his eyes as his vision took him through the ground, seeing nothing for a few seconds until he appeared on the inside of a large cave, filled with water, a small amount of ridges higher up on the walls with a few natural corridors leading to the cave. A small turtle was sitting in the middle of the water, snapping its jaw at the water, seemingly drinking it by the mouth full. John’s vision got drawn towards it, and spinning around the turtle in slow circles, John noticed the island it was standing on was moving. Just before John’s vision cut out, the shape of a head could be made out from under the water surface, its yellow eyes sending shivers down his spine.