A big camp in a hidden valley

The family of three led John to a rather secluded valley half an hour’s walk from the edge of the forest. To John’s surprise, Marco had melded into a rather striking tattoo on the older man’s shoulder. “I’ll explain in a few minutes,” was all Arnold said as John raised his hand to ask a question.

Before long they stood in front of a sheer cliff face; looking up, it would be at least four meters tall, casting a long shadow over the ground around them. “We are here, cliché but effective,” Miranda explained. Without flinching she walked into the wall, disappearing from sight right away. The others soon followed, leaving John **** but to walk into the wall as well. A moment of coldness. Then he stood in front of a clearing, surrounded by cliffs on one side and by bushes and a few sparse trees on the other. A pop up appeared in front of him.

Marco was once more sitting on Arnold’s shoulder as the man waited for him. John could just see Miranda walking into the camp surrounded by a few unfamiliar people. Arnold explained to John, “She is the top dog here, the leader, and the moment she returns, she will be swarmed by people needing her. Don’t worry. I can explain more than enough on my own,” he winked as he gestured for John to follow.

John and Arnold walked into the camp together with Cynthia. A few people waved at Arnold, and many cast interested glances at John. He realized two things very quickly: The first was that there were just a few stone buildings in the camp; the rest of it was mainly occupied by large camping tents. The second was that 70% of the people around him were female. “You weren’t kidding when you said you had a lot of single females,” John spoke softly to Arnold. The man in question simply winked as they made their way to one of the buildings, the one in the center of the camp.

“Welcome to our local temple of Artemis,” Arnold said solemnly as he realized that Cynthia was still following them. “Cynthia, how about you help me out and feed Marco for me? It will be a long sit for John, and I doubt you’d want to hear all of this again.”

Arnold gave a whistle, the thunderbird flapping its wings as it hopped over to Cynthia’s outstretched arm. “Sure, dad, don’t scare him too much okay?” With that the girl and the bird were gone too, walking off into the chaos of tents.

“Right, temple, welcome,” Arnold groaned, stretching his arms, a few joints popping in the process. John was too occupied with looking at the building to really notice much else. The temple was made completely out of white marble, a huge statue of a kneeling woman wielding a drawn bow in the center. It was a giant statue, three meters high and fully painted. “A replica of the statue in the original temple, just smaller.”

A strong hand then guided John to a room at the back of the temple; in it were just a round table, a few chairs, a small soot covered bowl and a number of boxes. Arnold gestured for John to sit down on one of the chairs as he drew the table over, placing the bowl on top of the table.

“Let’s get you started on Abyss 101. In a few words, the Abyss is the magical mirror side of the human world. It exists next to the normal world in what we call Illusion Barriers. We are in one of those right now, just as you were dragged into one before we found you.”

Arnold started to toss a few pieces of wood into the bowl and set it alight, throwing a hand full of blue powder into the flames, the smoke intensifying above the bowl, images forming in it to be a visual aid for John to go along with the story. “The reason people in the modern day have all but forgotten us is because of one supreme existence, Gaia, the mother goddess. According to the legends, our Lady Artemis is her great granddaughter, but we’re not sure if that’s true. You try asking a goddess about her bloodline, especially in the Greek pantheon…” Arnold chuckled slightly. “Anyway. Gaia will smite anyone that showcases too much magic out in the open. Let’s say you know how to create fireballs and start juggling them in Times Square? Squash. No more John.” In the smoke an image of John literally being erased was shown, John shuddered.

”Good, that seemed to have the desired effect,” Arnold continued; “Some people are born with their powers, others get them at a later date. Those born with them can get them through a varied amount of ways: bloodlines, accidents, luck, you name it. Then there is a second kind, the kind you belong to, John. The late bloomers. They just wake up one day with powers just from one moment to the next, part of the Abyss. Late Bloomers can be dangerous, most don’t live past their first week due to not having anyone to guide them. You are quite lucky to have found us to explain this to you. However… if you had stayed in town the probability of the Golden Rose finding you would have been high as well. Anyway, I’ll get to them later.”

“Arnold… my head is spinning, can I ask you a quick question?” John asked with a face like he had a migraine. “In short you’re saying there’s a side of the world people don’t know about, a side where magical people live, and that these places we are in can be created?”

Arnold nodded. ”Pretty much.”

“Can you teach me how to create them?” John asked.

“All in due time, but yes, it’s not that hard if you know how to do it,” Arnold reassured him, snapping his fingers as he pointed to the smoke. “But, back to the story. The information I will give you now will be vital for if you want to stay here as part of the Hunters of Artemis. The Hunters of Artemis were founded in ancient Greece as the Huntresses of Artemis. A group of female huntresses that dedicated their lives to our Lady, they swore off men and would only move by her command. Among them were famous women like Cynthia and Miranda’s ancestor Hippolyta. Many people would tell you that the Greek pantheon and its organisations collapsed after the time of the Greek came to an end, but that’s not how it went.

The gods survived, and so did their organisations. Through time they changed, took up different methods, and it was around the fifteenth century that Artemis stopped her followers from being celibate. While she herself chose to stay a virgin, she would not expect her followers to do the same. To quote a transcript from that time - ‘Why should the huntresses be celibate when it’s a basic human need? Why **** them to not know love, not know passion? ’ - and so it happened. Then the second big change in its long life happened roughly a hundred years ago. Artemis started to accept men into her ranks. While woman fought for equal rights in the normal world, Artemis decided it was time for emancipation to come to her own organisation as well. So from then on the Huntresses have been called the Hunters of Artemis. Though for an organisation as old as this one, it’s not easy to shake the stigma of being a female only organisation. That’s why our camp has so many women.”

Arnold then swiped his hand over the flames, dispersing the cloud and adding a handful of green powder to the flames. “As for other organisations, Lady Artemis is part of a larger one herself. The Council of the Hunt. Together with other hunting deity’s, she has taken up the role of Protector of the Wilds. And we, as her hunters, are tasked with enforcing her rule, keeping the wilds safe and free of corruption. Keeping people like that Cabalist out, the man that attacked you.”

Arnold produced six carved wooden statues, placing them around the bowl. “The council of the hunt consists of six deities. Until just ten years ago, it was five but lately due to a certain game a new hunting deity was born,” Arnold said with a shrug. “We have our Lady, Artemis.” The torso and head of a beautiful woman appeared in the flames, hair with the color of fallen leaves in autumn, a green leather chest piece that covered all but her left arm. The left arm instead covered in a glowing silver gauntlet.

“Cernunnos..." A muscular man without a shirt appeared in the flames, two big antlers sprouting from his head making him look menacing. A red beard covered most of his face, and a long red mane of hair fell all the way down his back. “You met Gus of his Wild Hunt before.”

“Skadi.” A pristine white woman appeared in the smoke, long flowing blonde hair and cold blue eyes staring out from the smoke.

“Mixcoatl” A man in a robe appeared, his face covered by an aztec mask. “His other divinity is war… his followers are a tad crazy, even worse than Gus,” Arnold spoke in a disapproving tone.

“Neith.” An egyptian woman showed up in the flames, a black bob cut and a crown inlaid with opals filling the smoke.

“And lastly, the deity that I told you about just a few moments ago. Hemet Nesingwary.” A dwarf wearing a monocle stared out of the smoke.

John stared back, his jaw almost hitting the floor. “You are fucking kidding me?” John asked as he looked from Arnold to the dwarf and back.

“I’m sorry?” Arnold seemed confused.

“Hemet Nesingwary, the hunter from World of Warcraft, is a god?”

Arnold looked even more surprised that John actually knew the guy before he mumbled, “Gamer, of course. Well, faith needs to accumulate for a time for a god to be born, and one of the most direct ways humans can bestow fate upon a person or creature is by spending their time in its name. By having people sacrificing their time to play WoW, some even dedicating their lives to it, gamers have given Hemet Nesingwary divinity,” Arnold said with a solemn expression. “However, he is still gathering his forces. He can not participate in this decades… Oh right I did not tell you that part yet. And, ehm, John, before you think about switching sides already, there is a rumor that he only accepts dwarves.

“Every ten years, the council holds a tournament to decide its leader. It used to be so that the current leader can not participate in the tournament due to there being 5 gods; however, with a sixth divine being added to the mix, it may change in the near future. The current tournament has started three weeks ago. Artemis is competing with Cernunnos on our side, while Skadi is competing with Mixcoatl on the other. In a month we will have a winner, and the winner shall move onto the finals. Neith is the current leader of the council in case you were wondering.” In the smoke a small tournament system appeared with the portraits of the gods showing who was competing with whom. “The winning god will be crowned leader of the council for the next decade and will get an extra vote during sessions. They tend to reward their followers handsomely if they gather enough prestige for them, so it’s also a good way for people like us to show what we can do.”

John nodded as he heard all of this. “So, to ask one more question, we are competing with Gus in… what exactly?”

Arnold responded “We are competing in hunting, bigger game, better game, more dangerous creatures. Let's say a deer is worth five points. Then a dragon would be worth a thousand points. The side that has the most points in the end wins. For every kill we make, we must offer a trophy in front of the statue of our deity. “

Arnold once more waved the smoke away from the bowl, this time not adding anything else to the fire. “There are also other organisations in the Abyss. We have a cordial relationship with the Order of the Golden Rose. The Brightons run it in your town. They worship Gaia, keeping evil magic organisations in check. If you ever run into them, convey them our Lady’s greetings and you can rest assured they will not harm you. Not that they are a violent bunch, just… a bit overzealous at times.” With that, the explanations came to an end.

“I hope that you now also understand why Marco melded into my body outside of the Barriers. If Gaia had found him out and about… well, I would not be standing here with you. While she will not outright smite you if there are no normal people around, you should not risk it.”

Arnold brushed his hands off, placing the bowl back on the floor as he gestured for John to exit the room. “Now that we have the history lessons taken care of. Time to see what your powers can do.”